STAFF WRITER

The Office of Residential Life is working to create post-lottery focus groups by early December. These focus groups will allow students to discuss their personal experiences in the post-lottery housing process directly with Residential Life representatives.

Earlier this week, Residential Life sent out emails to all post-lottery students, asking them to assess the post-lottery process.

The assessment includes a section on whether or not students would like to participate in focus groups in order to discuss their ideas about how to improve the post-lottery process.

Kimberly Russell, assistant dean of students and director of residential life, hopes that these focus groups will be beneficial in facilitating a dialogue between students and the Office of Residential Life.

Russell understands that students have had concerns about the post-lottery process for some time.

“We know it’s a difficult process to go through and that students have strong opinions about post-lottery,” Russell said.

She is correct on this front, with post-lottery students voicing both their issues with Residential Life and their doubts about the success of focus groups.

“I don’t think they [will be] able to listen to a focus group,” Patrick Mullen, FCRH ’15 said.

His opinion stems from the fact that he has previously had unsatisfactory conversations with Residential Life officials regarding his placement in post-lottery housing.

Sarah Homer, FCRH ’16, echoes Mullen’s sentiment that focus groups might not be able to accomplish much.

“I don’t know if any of the things that will be brought up will be new to Residential Life,” Homer said.

Despite their similar concerns and doubts, Mullen and Homer both agree that these focus groups would do more good than harm.

“I don’t think it’s a bad idea to give those of us who were stuck in post-lottery a forum in which to air our grievances with the housing process,” said Homer.

Taking students’ opinions into consideration, Russell remains positive about the implementation of post-lottery focus groups.

“I want to make sure students know that we care about their experience and want to improve it given the constraints of a complex, layered system,” Russell said. “Focus groups would help create a direct connection between residents and Residential Life, as opposed to individualized conversations that only encapsulate the opinion of a specific student.”

Despite the fact that many students have reached out to Residential Life with complaints, other students have not. Russell hopes that the focus groups will give all students the opportunity to speak openly with Residential Life.

At the very least, these focus groups definitely have the ability to act as an open forum in which both students and Residential Life can share ideas and opinions regarding the post-lottery process.

“We don’t want students to just complain to their friends about this — I want to hear the students’ voice on post-lottery,” Russell said. “If we can make changes that improve the student’s experience, that’s our goal.”