Housing system glitch interferes with apartment selection

On Tuesday, April 5 during Phase 1 of the university’s new housing selection system, a glitch occurred at 1:40 p.m. preventing groups of rising juniors from viewing and selecting available four-person apartments, according to the Office of Residential Living.

Group sponsors trying to access the system after the glitch were not able to see available apartments in Villages A and B and so were forced to choose suites instead. “This created a trickle-down effect which forced groups who were anticipating choosing suites to not see anything available for four people,” the Office wrote in a post on their Facebook page. 

Juniors assigned to choose housing at 1:40 p.m. or later received an email several hours later from Residential Living informing them that they would be allowed to choose apartments before Phase 2 housing selection next week.

“We have discovered why the problem occurred and are committed to resolving this issue and offering your group an apartment option,” wrote Assistant Director for Assignments Kristi Haxton in the email to affected students. Residential Living  did not explain how the glitch occurred or whether it was related to the new Hoya Housing system, but claimed that only a small minority of students were affected. Group sponsors are to be contacted to make a selection “when we have these spaces available,” according to the email. 

Only groups of rising juniors were assured that they would receive apartments.  “We only guaranteed apartments for our rising juniors and seniors,” Residential Living wrote in response to a comment on their page.

According to Residential Living, the glitch occurred at 1:40pm. However, Maggie Chaquette (COL ‘18), who had a 1:20 p.m. selection time, suspects that the problem occurred earlier in the afternoon. “Only like 10 Henle apartments were showing up as available, which mathematically doesn’t make sense at all,” she wrote in a Facebook message to the Voice. Students like Chaquette who were able to select apartments, despite the limited options, will not be given the option to reselect housing from the apartments that were unavailable at the time.

Navneet Vishwanathan (SFS ‘18) suggested that the whole selection process be repeated to ensure fairness. He argued that the apartments that were not visible affected all students selecting housing, not just those who chose suites after 1:40 p.m. “By giving students who were bumped down to suites these apartments without first offering the option to reselect to other students creates a system where people with lower numbers may get nicer apartments,” he wrote to the Voice in a Facebook message.

Some students expressed frustration about how Residential Living has handled the glitch. “Basically what we’re all upset about is the lack of transparency and not knowing what apartments were still available when the glitch happened,” wrote Chaquette. She wrote that she was put on hold for six minutes after calling the number provided on the Facebook page, and her entire phone call lasted for 25 minutes. Vishwanathan expressed frustration that the office is not allowing all students to repeat the selection process. “In my correspondence with Res. Living, they have been uncooperative and have not addressed this concern when I brought it up to them,” he wrote.

Juniors eligible for apartments with selection times after 1:40pm, like Stephen Yaeger (SFS’ 18), now find themselves in housing limbo. “It’s definitely creating a lot of uncertainty which is annoying. I honestly just wish I could just get a Henle and be done with it,” he said.