Student Council will vote tonight on a resolution that would endorse the elimination of incoming first-year students' choice in housing.
If passed, the resolution would support a proposal from an ad hoc enrollment committee, comprised of five administrators, to diversify student living arrangements by not allowing first years to choose between the Alderman and McCormick Road residence areas.
The current system allows entering first-year students to state a preference regarding where they live. Administrators decided to explore changing this system in response to concerns regarding a disparity in student diversity in the two housing areas.
Last year, 28.1 percent of Alderman residents were non-white, compared to 14.5 percent of McCormick residents.
"Student opinion [on the issue] is very mixed," said Matt Madden, Council executive vice president. "The resolution is still open for debate and amendment."
Council College Rep. Nick Jabbour said he supports the plan.
"The proposal put forth by the committee provides for a more enriching experience for first years," Jabbour said. "It gets rid of the arbitrary distinctions [between the residence areas] and exposes first-year students to other types of people."
But others disagreed and said students deserve to decide where they will live.
"I think they should keep the choice," said Robert Luck, a first-year Engineering student and an Alderman Road resident. "It's really a personal preference between halls and suites, and people should be allowed to choose."
Last September, Council passed a resolution admonishing the lack of adequate student involvement and consultation on the committee's original proposal. No students participated in creating the proposal. The resolution also supported the adoption of a lottery system to decide housing priority.
Housing allocation decisions previously were based on the order in which the University received students' admission deposits.
Leonard W. Sandridge Jr., executive vice president and chief operating officer, approved adopting the lottery system in housing assignments, a change which will go into effect this spring.
But in response to concerns over the lack of student involvement, Sandridge decided to delay the enactment of the proposal to eliminate choice until student opinion could be determined adequately.
Either Sandridge, Provost Peter W. Low, or William W. Harmon, vice president for student affairs, could take action on the proposal.
"If the resolution doesn't pass, it shouldn't be interpreted that Student Council is necessarily against it," Madden said. Other factors such as a lack of concise student opinion could lead Council to vote against the resolution, despite overall support for the proposal.
First-year student opinion is almost evenly split on the housing issue, First Year Council President Preston Lloyd said.
At a special meeting last week, representatives from all the first-year residence halls discussed the issue but failed to arrive at a consensus, Lloyd said.
Some students also are concerned that although the proposal is aimed at diversifying the general first-year student body it does not integrate Echols and Rodman Scholars' housing, he said.
First Year Council will present findings from a recent student survey on the housing proposal at tonight's Student Council meeting.
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