According to Residential Services Assistant Director for Operations Joni Tyson, "Housing went well" this year. Many of the students who participated in the general housing lottery would probably beg to differ.
The general lottery always leaves a few poor souls wandering in housing limbo this time of the year. But this time statistics are staggering. Of the approximately1,500 lottery numbers, housing could only be offered to the first 301. Everyone else goes on the waiting list until more housing becomes available.
While we have no doubt that the University will find some way to accommodate everyone, the results might not be pretty. Visions of four students cramped into triples, single students torn away from their friends to occupy the last space in a quad, and no one living in his building of choice all spring to mind.
Students who drew high lottery numbers have two options. If they listen to the University's advice, they could choose to wait out the Department of Residential Services' fumbling and take what housing they can get. This might involve waiting well into the summer, and of course, there is still the likely chance that they will end up with one of the housing situations described above.
The other option is to move off campus. For those to whom this option is available, there are many benefits. For those who choose to stay on campus, an exodus of your peers would ease the housing crunch and partially make up for Res Services' failures.
Atlanta housing is a renter's market. Costs are comparable to living on campus. Customer service is determined by the free market, not administrative fiat. And, not unimportantly, nothing is controlled by Res Services or Emory.
For years, Emory has been trying to convince students to live on campus. While there are some advantages to staying in the dorms, the downside is evident in Res Services' latest fiasco.
We understand that the housing shortage is caused by construction at Turman, and next year's large freshman class, but Res Services should have anticipated the situations that it now faces. In all likelihood, it already did. That's why its decision to wait until after the lottery to inform students of their predicament is so unconscionable.
Students with lottery numbers who sought campus housing were instructed to appear at the Cox Ballroom to receive their housing assignments. These students were informed of the housing shortage by locked doors and blue flyers on the floor. Since Tyson's job was technically done, she left the scene early. Students without housing were left to ponder their fates without the benefit of Res Services.
Now hundreds of students are high and dry, with the school year almost over. They would have found a head start on the house-hunting process useful.
In two years, the construction will be finished. But campus housing's reputation will be in in need of some serious rebuilding. There's little point in having plenty of campus housing if there are no students willing to fill up the rooms.
The staff editorials represent the majority opinion of the
Wheel Editorial Board.
