The Room Picks Committee
Overview
The Room Picks Committee was established late first term, 2007, to discuss the room picks crisis and to offer solutions that would minimize its harmful effects. The Committee was active during the first half of second term, gathering information, conducting simulations, and making predictions, and dissolved after its recommendations were brought to the House and voted on.
Members
Qing Liu (chair)
David Lee
Brandon Hensley
Ryan Hamerly
Panna Felsen
Dongkook Lim
Findings
The Problem
- The Committee predicted that as many as 43 members would be kicked off-campus in the 2008 internal lottery. Of these, it was predicted that approximately 13 would return into Avery through the unaffiliated lottery. The remaining 30 members would be forced to live off-campus for the following year.
Proposed Solutions
- The Committee unanimously recommended that Avery secure an off-campus alley for the purposes of housing students who are kicked out of the internal lottery. Such an alley would provide such members with better opportunities to interact with fellow Averites and would keep them connected with the House. The Housing Office has accepted this recommendation, and has granted Avery an 11-space off-campus alley.
- The Committee recommended that Avery look into securing off-off-campus housing for an additional off-campus alley. The status of the off-off-campus alley is still pending.
- The Committee recommended that the number of unaffiliated spaces in Avery be reduced by at least half. This was brought up with the Housing Office, which rejected it for the 08/09 academic year. However, it is possible that this recommendation will be implemented in succeeding years.
- The Committee recommended that the House reduce its freshman class size to 25 students. This recommendation was brought before the House and a there was a consensus among the members to accept it. Implementation will be up to the next Rotation Picks Team.
- The Committee proposed three packages that would change the Room Picks bylaws. The first package guaranteed rooms to three fourths of seniors and all persons formerly kicked off-campus; the second package made members bumped off-campus less likely to be kicked off twice, and the third tried to accomplish the objective of the second while preserving an even class size at the same time. All three packages were rejected by the House.
Documents
The following documents were produced during the committee's investigation:
Resolving the Room Picks Debacle by Ryan Hamerly, December 27, 2007.
Why the Brandon Plan Works by Ryan Hamerly, January 11, 2008.
An analysis of Brandon's plan by Ryan Hamerly, January 13, 2008.
An analysis of David's plan by Ryan Hamerly, January 15, 2008.
An analysis of David's plan, without senior preference by Ryan Hamerly, January 26, 2008.
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