The housing selection process is a huge part of starting the new school year. With the fall 2022 semester approaching students are scrambling to figure out their rooming assignments for the upcoming year.

Associate Director of Residence Life Heather Emery-Cunningham explained that the housing process starts out with each student getting assigned a random number between one and 500, then each is assigned with a lottery number based upon class year.

Students were given opportunities to lower their lottery numbers if they took some of the surveys offered by campus including the Residence Life Experience Survey in the fall and the Diverse Learning Environment in the spring. 

Emery-Cunningham said that if each survey was taken, students can get a 100 point reduction from their lottery number. She also explained students who did not complete the required Title IX training would add 200 points to their lottery number.

When it comes to students wanting particular housing on campus such as two-person two-bedroom apartments, applications must be complete.

“When applications come in, a priority is given to completed applications. I am able to accept them, but students need to know that they’re going to be at the bottom list of priorities that are going to be given to students who have completed applications,” she said.

Several students have not been happy with not getting two-person two-bedroom apartments for next year due to upperclassmen having seniority with lower lottery numbers. 

Dean of Students and Director of Residence Life Matt Hansen said, “Students should know that in reality that Detroit and Weinman are premium housing for [some] seniors. We need to change the expectation that rising juniors could select one.”

Along with low demand for two person rooms, there have also been some maintenance issues students have had this year and the past year. First-year Aaliyah Johnson said that some of the problems she had on campus was when mold was present in Kresge.

“There was a mold problem on my side of Kresge. It kind of freaked me out a little but I wasn’t too worried. We didn’t have a lot in our room so we didn’t even have to move rooms. I feel bad for the people who had their belongings ruined and had to move out,” Johnson said.

Junior Alex Fuller said he also had problems regarding infrastructure in the Weinman Apartments.

“There have been a lot of basic infrastructure issues, like losing hot water, pipes bursting, etc. that I haven’t heard my friends at other colleges experiencing. Hot water was out at Weinman, but I was happy to see how quickly it was fixed,” he said.

Even though there have been some complications when it comes to housing on campus, both Johnson and Fuller said their experiences on campus have been positive.

Johnson said she enjoys living in the first-year halls and all the different things they were able to do not only around campus but within the hall itself.

“I love living in the freshman dorms. It’s so easy to make friends with the people in your building and I’ve enjoyed all the fun adventures we’ve had,” Johnson said. “Sometimes we just sit in the hallway and talk, sometimes it’s a nerf war, and other times were screaming at the TV as our favorite football team is losing.”

Fuller explained that he has been in multiple housing places on campus, but for the most part, he has had positive experiences.

“Overall my living experience at Simpson has been positive. I knew my roommate coming into my freshman year so it made it easy to transition to college living. Doing laundry in the first-year dorms was a struggle, there were never enough washers and dryers it felt like. I enjoy Weinman so much more than Kresge,” Fuller said.

There is also an option on campus called gender-inclusive housing (GIH). GIH is a policy that allows two or more students to share a multiple-occupancy room, suite or apartment regardless of the students’ sex or gender.

Hansen said that the application process for GIH on every student’s housing application and anyone is able to apply to live in this setting. First-year Kyle Werner started his college career in GIH but thinks there should be a better process in how people should be selected due to his past experience with a roommate.

“I feel like there really isn’t a process, I feel like it’s on an individual basis. My first roommate was in the gender-inclusive hall was questionable in itself. With the situation I was in, I’m glad that it was taken as seriously as it was in turn, but I feel like it would have been taken more seriously from the get-go,” Werner said.

Werner believes the application process for GIH should be more rigorous and an interview process would be a good thing for this kind of housing.

Residence Life saw some struggle with first-year dorms in GIH and want to relocate to another floor of halls to ensure it is a more friendly living environment for students who are interested in this kind of housing.

“We have continued the gender-inclusive housing wing for incoming first-year students but will relocate to a non-first floor area so it has less foot traffic passing through. There is no change in how to apply/offer interest. We continue to offer GIH options for returning students through the standard process,” Hansen said.

The third floor of Kresge Hall is offered to those who want to have single room housing. 

“Simpson students have expressed demand for this housing style, and we are happy to meet that demand and utilize this space for our returning students,” Hansen said.