In a major change for student housing, Stanford just announced that it will phase out its longstanding “Draw” system and instead create “residential neighborhoods.” As a parent of a graduating senior, I am delighted to see this change and only wish it had been in place when my son matriculated. The current housing system, though not without its advantages, was a significant negative in my opinion, especially when compared with the residential college system at Yale (which my son almost chose). Stanford’s new residential neighborhoods should go a long way toward creating the kind of community most students seek in their undergraduate years, and the fact that Stanford is making this change speaks volumes about its willingness to try new things. After being a part of the extended Stanford community for four years now as an interested parent, I’ve been increasingly impressed by this school, and the addition of residential neighborhoods will make Stanford about as “perfect” as any college or university can be. Below is part of the announcement; the full article is here:
The elimination of The Draw and the creation of residential neighborhoods — to which all undergraduates will be assigned before their first year on campus — will characterize the changes revolutionizing residential life at Stanford over the next century, according to recommendations released by the ResX task force on Tuesday.
Campus will be divided into 10 to 14 neighborhoods that group together existing dorm communities, giving them shared “facilities for learning, arts, recreation and dining.” Students will be “citizens” of these individual clusters for four years. Self-ops, co-ops, and Greek and Row houses will be subsumed into neighborhoods, along with ethnic theme dorms and other themed housing.
Incoming frosh will be automatically assigned to all-frosh dorms unless they apply to live in a University Theme House (UTH) — including SLE, ITALIC, FroSoCo and the frosh-friendly ethnic theme houses. There will be no more than one UTH housing frosh in each neighborhood, and they will be located near their respective neighborhoods’ all-frosh dorms “where possible,” the report recommends.
The report further suggested that Stanford limit students to only one year in a given UTH. Students will no longer be able to draw into UTHs — which include themed upper-class Row houses — and will instead be exclusively required to pre-assign.
In lieu of The Draw, there will be a separate lotteries among the members of each class in each neighborhood, with seniors choosing first, then juniors and finally sophomores. Students who choose to relocate to a different neighborhood will be relegated to the “lowest priority” among members of their class to choose their housing assignment for t. Students with “approved concerns” such as Title IX issues will have the option to transfer neighborhoods without penalty through a separate process.
“The system should encourage, but not require, students to stay within their neighborhood,” the report added.
