Word: transferable
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Before Spring Break, the Housing Office revealed that over 40 percent fewer students applied to transfer houses this spring than at the same time last year. This decline in the number of requests is likely affected by substantial changes in the house transfer process. By introducing new restrictions into the transfer procedure, the Faculty Committee on House Life has made switching houses less attractive. In the past, we have stood consistently against policies, such as randomization, that severely, restrict student choice with regard to living situations. Similarly, we are now concerned about the new house transfer policy, one which...
Until this year, students were able to apply directly to the houses into which they wished to switch. Under this new policy, applicants can only choose the specific house in which they will live only if they are willing to transfer alone or with one other person and if they are moving into a particular rooming group within another house. Students seeking singles and groups of students wishing to switch together can eliminate only two houses (plus their own) in which they do not wish to live, but are then randomly placed among the other nine houses. "Many students...
...must reluctantly confess that so far randomization hasn't been nearly as bad as expected. Rooming problems remain an issue for some, but the administration has done all right. No, nothing is ever perfect but it appears that the stated goals of randomization will be accomplished. People will always transfer for a variety of reasons but the decline in transfers is significant. Houses will have no concrete identity, rather each new class will change the identity the class before built. The houses will continually change and many of us will grow to be proud of the quirkiness...
...many fronts randomization has been a success. Transfer requests went down this year. Whether this decrease is due to the lack of house choice offered in the process or whether everyone is too thrilled about their homes to change is debatable. However, because of randomization, it's not clear where one would transfer to. Sure, if you hate your roommates and your new best friend lives in Quincy it's easy. For the dissatisfied at the Quad there is an incentive to transfer just to be nearer to more people. But what if you're just looking for a different...
...Putting transfers aside, what else has randomization changed? One aspect is that there are less options for roommates. Many students have been less than satisfied with this year's bunch of roomies, while others will take time off next year, setting off ripples in the often precarious living situations many pleasantly neurotic Harvard students find themselves in. Randomization has effectively cut down the options if one wants to live with different people but not necessarily transfer out of the house. In the past, several blocking groups of friends could have chosen the same houses. If a living situation blew...