Students disagree on housing lottery fairness at SBU

 

                ST. BONAVENTURE (Mar. 18) – Students at St. Bonaventure University said they disagree on the fairness of the housing lottery system.

University officials say they use a lottery system to provide students with a ranking in which to select campus housing for the following school year.  Those with the lowest numbers pick first.

Chris Brown, coordinator for residential education and housing, said raw lottery scores are assigned by a random, computer-generated process.  “Not only is it functional, but it’s also necessary,” he said.

However, a student’s raw lottery number can be altered based on behavior, Brown said.

Students are awarded 50 points if they hold campus leadership positions, like an officer of a club or a captain of a sports team, Brown said.  If a student is a member of a club or organization, a Division-1 sports team, or if a student completes at least 20 hours of community service, the student earns 25 points per club, he said.

“There is a 150-point limit on co-curricular excellence points because although we want to reward students for being active, we don’t want to reward them for spreading themselves too thin,” said Brown.  He said the balance of appropriate levels of involvement is a part of learning time management.

Brown said if original individual numbers weren’t given before additions or deductions, there would be too many ties between students.

 “I don’t think it’s perfect, but it’s not set in stone,” Brown said.  “Students can make additional changes if they feel something needs to be fixed if they appeal through the Student Government Association.”

                Changing the co-curricular excellence points’ value would be a subject of interest for Alex Tiexeira, a sophomore journalism and mass communication major.  “If someone is active in a club, it’s a huge time commitment,” he said.  “The housing lottery should be based more upon success, which will give students more incentive to work harder and be involved.  If there are still going to be the random numbers, students should get more than 25 points per club.”

                A part of the housing lottery system is judicial relations, said Brown. “In judicial hearings, the executive director of residential living and conduct, Nichole Gonzalez, assigns points to be added onto the lottery score for each case.  Sometimes, with minor offenses, she won’t assign enough points to cause serious lottery restrictions.”

                Brown said that typically, the first judicial offense will give students a written warning.  After the second violation, university officials add about 100 points to the lottery score.  The third and following offenses will rack up 200 additional points per violation.  In cases of drug violations, a student will face an instant 200-point increase for every violation.

                But Joe Bucher, a sophomore journalism and mass communication major, said he thinks the judicial point system should be even more specific.  “Different write-ups should have different points.  People should be punished more for destroying property and stealing while students who behave deserve to go back to a nicer dorm room,” he said.

                Megan O’Donnell, sophomore journalism and mass communication major, also didn’t agree with lottery number fairness.

                O’Donnell lives in Francis Hall, a dorm building with only single rooms and a 10-minute walk from the center of campus.  At first, O’Donnell’s high lottery score left her choosing Francis Hall over Devereux Hall, an upper-classmen resident hall close to the dining hall and the academic buildings.

But she says she thinks it turned out for the best.  “I love having a single.  It’s quiet and peaceful.  The lottery ended up working out for me.”

But Bucher disagrees. “I hate the lottery,” he said. “Last year, I was a Division-1 athlete, I had a 3.4 GPA, and my lottery number was still up in the 2000s.”

Bucher still made it into Devereux Hall because his roommate had a better number.  “Thing is,” Bucher said, “he was written up like seven times, and he was less involved than me, and that’s not fair.”

Because of the original random numbers, Bucher said, his roommate’s score was still around 600 points better, despite the reductions.

Rob Ryer, a senior physical education major, agreed that the lottery should be based more on achievement.  “Actually, I think it should be based mostly on GPA.  Those with the highest GPAs and best academic standing should have first pick.”

Ryer said instead of assigning random lottery numbers, everyone should start at the number 500, and lose points for academic and extracurricular excellence and gain points for judicial issues and failed classes.

“The system is fair,” Ryer said. “It just sucks for people with bad luck.”