Sophomore Housing Yields Mixed Reactions

In response to first years concerned with the grim state of sophomore housing, Columbia Housing Services has initiated some changes. These include a new Sophomore Pair-Up plan and renovated parts of Wien Hall.

Columbia’s housing lottery system ensures that the least sought-after rooms on campus will be occupied by sophomores, since their grade designation has them select residences after juniors and seniors.

Many schools assign housing by means of a seniority system that gives students greater advantage in the lottery the higher their class year. But Columbia does not subscribe to that concept entirely. Instead, in addition to prioritizing seniors over juniors and juniors over sophomores, Columbia reserves certain predetermined buildings on central campus to incoming first years, blocking out these options to the sophomores at the bottom of the barrel. Rising sophomores’ low lottery numbers, coupled with the buildings pre-reserved for first-years, compound the situation.

Michael Novielli, chief of administration of student auxiliary and business services, explained the decision to reserve certain buildings for first-years, saying “We wanted to create a very vibrant first-year community so that the transition from high school to college would be as seamless as possible,”
Though a handful of lucky sophomores usually emerge victorious from the housing lottery with singles in Furnald or suites in 47 Claremont, the majority live in doubles in McBain or Schapiro. Other options for sophomores include Wien and the Living Learning Center.

Joyce Jackson, executive director of Housing and Accommodation Services, attributed sophomores’ discontent with their housing to the scarcity of single rooms. “That fact alone, aside from the building, aside from anything else, is going to make people unhappy,” she said.

But the lack of singles is not the only cause of sophomores’ dissatisfaction—the quality of life in the buildings is an equally significant source of complaint. In McBain, for instance, rooms located next to the shaft that runs down the center of the building tend to be hot and dark with close-up views of the rooms across from them, while Schapiro’s walk-through doubles are small and cramped.

In order to improve residential life for future sophomores, housing services has renovated, and continues to renovate, parts of buildings to make them as comfortable as possible. Renovations to Wien Hall have included the addition of a lounge and laundry room on the second floor, changes to the overhead lighting, and new doors that open with Columbia University IDs instead of keys. Approval is also pending on the addition of more bathrooms to four floors.

In the past, sophomores’ disadvantage in the housing lottery has forced many of them to live in blind doubles. This year, housing has attempted to rectify that problem by introducing a new element of housing selection called Sophomore Pair-Up, which will allow groups of sophomores in suite selection to break up into doubles if they do not receive a suite.