New housing selection for freshman class

A new housing selection system
was utilized this summer for incoming first year students, granting
the students more opportunity to select their roommates.
Incoming first years had a profile
that consisted of a housing profile and their Road to Xavier profile that was used to search for potential roommates. A top roommate
match list was generated through the system and the students
could either select a roommate
from this list, or go with a randomly suggested roommate.
The list was compiled by comparing
"one common interest or area of their profile such as a sport they play," Jim Whitaker, assistant
director of Residence Life, said in an e-mail.
"The first year housing selection
was designed to mirror the upper class process." Whitaker said.
The incoming first years were not only allowed to choose their roommate, but also the building and room they wanted to live in. The system showed the students what rooms were still available during their selection time, allowing
them to adjust their preferences
as necessary.
According to Whitaker, this change to the new selection process,
came out of students expressing
a desire to have more choice in selecting their roommate and room arrangements. More universities across the nation are switching to a student-oriented selection system.
"We also know that students who have the ability to control where they live and who they live with are more satisfied with their residence hall experience," Whitaker said.
During the process, there was a minor glitch on the last night of open sign up. The web servers that were used to direct traffic experienced
a glitch that caused 40 students
to experience a slowdown in the selection process. These students were contacted on the next business day by Residence Life staff and worked with them and their preferred roommate for a housing assignment.
This system will be kept for next year and a survey is planned to be sent out in September to receive
feedback and adjustments will be made to the system as needed based on the feedback provided.