The Brown & White

The numbers were posted, the dorms were toured, and the rooms were selected. And now, some freshmen are angry.

Lehigh's housing lottery took place last month. Most freshmen decided on who to live with before picking out a room, and many were hoping for four-person apartment suites. But it turned out that there were only 18 quads out of 53 allotted for women, upperclassmen included.

Rising sophomores - this year's freshmen - are required to live on campus next year, and some feel they are stuck with inadequate housing.

Ozzie Breiner, director of residential services, acknowledges that only 18 quads were left open for women, but he says this number was reached in a reasonable way.

The male to female ratio at Lehigh had a lot to do with it, Breiner said.

"After Gryphons were hired and Gryphon roommates selected, we had 422 men to participate in room selection and 208 women, a two to one ratio," Breiner said.

Aside from taking the ratio into account, residential services also had to be mindful of Lehigh's co-educational housing policy, Breiner said, which means that at least a few rooms in each dorm must be occupied by women.

"Consequently, we had to assign spaces for women in buildings like Drinker, Taylor and Thornburg in order to keep them from becoming all male buildings," Breiner said. "Once we accounted for those spaces, we had enough women left to compete for 18 quads. We attempted to keep a two to one ratio on apartments, the same ratio as total men to women needing housing."

Alexandra Viscosi, '11, said she is frustrated that some buildings only end up with a few women in them, simply to maintain the co-ed policy.

"My friend and I got stuck in Thornburg [House] for next year," Viscosi said. "It feels like I'm taking a step down after coming from [McClintock and Marshall House]. It definitely sucks. Before transfer students, there are a total of eight girls in Smiley and Thornburg [houses]. Though some may say this is an advantage, I am disappointed, coming from a dorm with about 150 girls to [one with] eight [girls]."

But Breiner said placing at least a few women in each dorm is necessary to comply with Lehigh's standards.

"If we allowed women to pick, based on their lottery number, as many apartments as possible, many of our other residence facilities would have become all male facilities, something counterproductive to our co-educational goal," he said.

He also said many second-year students come into the process expecting or assuming they'll get an apartment but after upperclassmen are placed, only about one-third of second-year students are able to have apartment style rooms.

Viscosi, who will be living in a double next year, said she thinks there is a better way to handle upper-class students who are allocated rooms in more traditional dorm buildings.

"Aside from being disappointed in a poor room, I think the better dorms should be saved for the upperclassmen, as opposed to throwing them in with the freshmen," Viscosi said. "This [living with mostly freshmen] is hindering on our experience because we will not be able to meet as many people if we're sandwiched between a bunch of freshmen."

Francesca Pellegrino, '11, decided to live in the C.H.O.I.C.E. house next year, so was able to avoid room selection in general, unlike many of her peers.

C.H.O.I.C.E. stands for choosing healthy options in community environments and is a living option for students who choose to be substance free.

Breiner also expressed sympathy for those who were unhappy with the outcome of the lottery but emphasized that residential services is committed to following Lehigh protocol.

"I can understand the women's frustration with the process, and we will definitely communicate information about the gender ratio more clearly in the future," Breiner said. "Until we have a more even ratio of men and women living in our halls, we will continue to allocate residence hall spaces in the lottery to ensure that our halls remain co-educational."