Members of Macalester College Student Government's Legislative Body discussed the possibility of changing the current room draw procedures at their weekly meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 18. Director of Residential Life Sarah Griesse appeared before the students to address the issue and answer members' questions.

Griesse asked for comments from LB about three proposals to change room draw policies. The goal of the proposed policies is to continue providing "equal access" to all students who wish to attain off-campus. "Res. Life is responsible for implementing a fair process," Griesse said.

The LB first discussed the problems that have arisen due to the fact that the current system gives seniors a priority over juniors. Because of this privileging of seniors, many juniors are forced to live off campus.

Griesse proposed two alternatives to the current system. One proposal would give juniors preference over seniors.

Juniors are more inclined to move off campus than sophomores, Griesse said. Allowing more juniors to live on campus, she said, would be helpful to rising juniors who are not prepared to move off-campus.

Her second proposal would group juniors and seniors together as a single entity in the room draw. LB members had positive feedback about the proposal. "The system … assumes that both juniors and seniors are of the same class," Josh Aaker '05 said, "no one should get a preference once you have the option of living off-campus."

LB member Jon Dayton '03 was also supportive of grouping juniors and seniors together in the room draw. "The battle line has been juniors versus Res. Life," he said. "The fact that Sarah Griesse was willing to talk about combining the junior and senior classes together is very positive."

The LB also discussed issues involved with "Same Space Day." The selection session allows on-campus juniors to avoid the lottery and retain their current living space for senior year. The session was initially intended to encourage juniors to stay on campus for their senior year, but according to Griesse was created at a time when the available housing supply exceeded demand.

In the past, Same Space Day has been open to residents of George Draper Dayton and Kirk Hall, both spaces for upperclassmen housing. However because of what Griesse described as "a robust sophomore class," there are currently sophomores living in GDD. Griesse asked the LB whether sophomores should be allowed to participate in Same Space Day, and the legislators agreed that they should not.

Academic Affairs Committee member Cate McDonough '05 said that sophomores in GDD were there because they had received "very good [lottery] numbers" last year, and that allowing them to retain their rooms would be "like giving them good numbers twice."

LB member Clark Wohlferd '03 said "other sophomores, in Wallace, will be put over the fire with room draw." Some legislators were also concerned that allowing sophomores living in GDD to retain their space would create further resentment from juniors.

The final issue discussed by Griesse with the LB was the sequence of allocating single rooms and double rooms. The current system begins by allowing students to draw for large group spaces first, followed by a session for three and four person rooms, then singles, and finally, doubles.

Griesse proposed that the order of singles and doubles be switched to encourage students to attempt living together. A suggestion during the debate by Dayton to combine the singles and doubles selection was well-received by Griesse LB members alike. McDonough said that switching the sessions would not be particularly advantageous, but that it would make more sense to combine them because it would give students a clear choice.

Griesse asked the LB to continue working with Residential Life to develop fair policies. Room draw is scheduled to occur from March 10 to March 13.

If approved, the policy changes would be implemented next spring.