Next House, NW35 Included as Options in Adjustment Lottery
Alex H. Chan—The Tech
Residence Exploration kicked off last Friday to introduce freshmen to the undergraduate dormitories at MIT. Many changes characterized this year’s REX, including the addition of Next House and the new dormitory NW35 to the Adjustment Lottery, as well as the exclusion of Bexley Hall in Dormitory Council-sponsored REX events.
REX will conclude today at 4 p.m. when the Adjustment Lottery closes. Specific room assignments are determined Wednesday at each dormitory’s “in-house rush,” and freshmen will move into their new residence Thursday.
The addition of Next House to the Adjustment Lottery influenced REX to start and end earlier than in previous years. Moving REX to an earlier schedule allows time for students moving in and out of Next House to be assigned new advisors, according to Next House President Yi Huang ’09.
Prior to this year, freshmen assigned to live in Next House during the summer could not enter the Adjustment Lottery because of its Residence-Based Advising system and had to stay in the dormitory for the entirety of their first year. Next House is now a part of the lottery as a result of many years of student complaints.
Another addition to this year’s Adjustment Lottery is NW35, the new graduate dormitory that will house a small community of undergraduates. This group of undergrads will eventually live in W1, which is being converted from a graduate to an undergraduate dormitory and should be open in 2010.
Andrew K. Sugaya ’11, Dormitory Council representative for NW35, said about 13 of the total 50 undergraduate spots in NW35 are allotted for freshmen.
According to Sugaya, NW35 is proving to be so popular that they are not trying very hard to attract more people. Freshmen already assigned to the dormitory seem content with its community and accommodations, which feature air conditioning and spacious rooms.
The exclusion of Bexley Hall in DormCon-sponsored REX events is another change this year. In the spring, Bexley Hall stopped paying its yearly tax to DormCon, effectively seceding from the organization. Bexley residents have a tradition of not participating in student government or DormCon.
Freshmen will still be able to move in or out of Bexley in the Adjustment Lottery.