This year the residence life staff has finally decided to give good students a break. Housing lottery numbers will be lowered by 25 points for students who earned a grade point average of 3.0 or higher from last semester. This is a great idea and a great start for the residence life department. It’s about time students got tangible rewards for their hard work in the classroom. Until now the housing selection process has been entirely random, leaving the good students in the same boat as those who study at The Zoo.

Residence life should also look into rewarding students who are involved in extracurricular activities at Simpson – volunteer work, sports and student organizations. Those who participate fully in the Simpson Experience should be given the first choices for Simpson housing.

Kudos to the residence life staff for finally taking the first step towards giving credit where credit is due – now if we only work out a deal with the parking ticket lady.