From NH4

Contents 1 Priority 2 Housing Meetings 3 Card Lottery 4 Room Assignment 5 Squatting Rights 6 Room Assignments are Final 7 Housing Chair Responsibilities

Priority

All participants in the housing lottery will be divided into two groups: residents of NH4 and newcomers. Residents of NH4 are students who lived in NH4 the previous academic term in which they were at MIT. Students who take time off and return to MIT are still considered residents and will draw cards with their academic class if they have been assigned a spot in NH4 at the time of the card lottery. Newcomers are students who have not lived previously in NH4: students who transfer into NH4 from another residence, incoming freshmen, and students who move out of NH4 and desire to return, etc. After a newcomer resides in NH4 for one term, he/she will be placed equally in the lottery with other members of his/her academic class. Priorities are assigned as follows (lower numbers indicate higher priorities):

1. NH4 residents who are in their fourth or higher academic year according to the registrar's office.
2. NH4 residents who are in their third academic year.
3. NH4 residents who are in their second academic year.
4. NH4 residents who are in their first academic year.
5. Newcomers who are in their fourth academic year.
6. Newcomers who are in their third academic year.
7. Newcomers who are in their second academic year.
8. Newcomers who are in their first academic year.

Important Exception: Students who elect sophomore or advanced standing will be considered a member of the class they would have been a member of had they not elected sophomore or advanced standing. Every student will be given the opportunity to select his/her room before all other students of lower priority subject to the limitation of squatting rights.

Housing Meetings

For Fall term housing, there will be two separate meetings at least one day apart, occuring no earlier than April 1. At the first meeting, cards will be drawn by all those wishing to participate in the lottery, and the picking order will be determined. At the second meeting, rooms will be selected and assigned. For Spring term housing, the meeting for reassignment of non-freshmen residents will occur after December 1 but before Winter Break. The meeting for decrowding and transfer assignments will occur by Registration Day of the Spring term unless otherwise decided by the New House Housing Chair.

Card Lottery

People will draw cards with their class, with Seniors drawing first. If a person is not present to draw a card and has not specified a proxy, then the Housing Chair will draw for him/her. The ranking of cards is as follows: A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2, with the Ace as the highest card. If there are more than 13 members in a class, cards of a different suit will be added, with their rank determined by the Housing Chair. The picking order is good for only one term. If a room frees up over the summer, it is reassigned based on the most recent lottery. (ie. there is not a new card lottery.) If a slot is vacated midterm, a new card lottery will be held for those residents eligible and interested. The slot is then assigned according to the rules specified below.

Room Assignment

Room assignment starts with the highest priority group and the person who drew the highest card. Rooms are then assigned in descending order. In the interest of time, people should come to the meeting with a list of rooms in mind. Squatters will be dealt with when their turn is reached. If a resident needs a room on the 3rd floor due to medical reasons, he/she will be given the last open slot on the 3rd floor if he/she did not draw high enough in the lottery to already pick one. Note: This does not guarentee a single, just a slot on the 3rd floor, be it in a double or a triple. If a resident failed to participate in the card lottery, but chose to remain in NH4, he/she will be given the best available slot, in the judgement of the housing chair, remaining after all lottery participants have selected their rooms. If a resident fails to participate in the room lottery, he/she will lose squatting rights in his/her current room. If the house population is such that there must be triples, the -12's will be forced to crowd before the -11's. Members of an -11 may choose to remain crowded even if a -12 is decrowded. The Housing Chair will determine the number of doubles and/or triples and will divide the freshmen accordingly before rooms selected. The Housing Chair may arrange the rooming assignments of doubles and triples to accommodate the male-female ratio.

Squatting Rights

Each person has the right to stay in his/her current room until he/she graduates or otherwise leaves NH4 for one term or more. Note: If the occupants of an -11 choose to squat, but are forced to be crowded, they have the option of moving to a -12 if there is one vacant. A squatting conflict occurs when a person wishes to squat, but someone else, the conflicting person, has chosen the squatter's present room in the room lottery. In order to resolve a squatting conflict, the squatter is assigned his/her present room. All previous assignments up to the conflicting person's assignment are erased. The assignment process starts over with the conflicting person choosing another room. Assignment proceeds forward from this point. Note: Squatting rights have nothing to do with the number of people in an -11 or -12. Squatting rights are acquired in your new room only after all assignments are complete.

Room Assignments are Final

Once a person chooses a room, he/she cannot change his/her mind unless there is a squatting conflict that he/she is affected by. Two people may swap rooms if they have the consent of every person with priorities between them.

Housing Chair Responsibilities

The Housing Chair will post the date, time, location of the meetings, and a list of the priorities of all persons eligible at least one week in advance. Meetings can occur with less than a week notice given the consent of all parties involved. He/she will keep written records of the choosing order and final results and will notify the New House Manager and New House Housing Chair of the new room assignments or any other changes that occur throughout the year. The Housing Chair is also responsible for collecting summer addresses from all residents at the end of the spring term and for keeping the housing rules up to date. If there is any problem with housing not covered by the above rules, the Housing Chair has the authority to resolve the situation as he/she sees fit. In the case of extreme extenuating circumstances (ex. the need to keep rooms the same gender, roommate problems) the Housing Chair may make changes that conflict with the above rules with the agreement of the current NH4 President. If the Housing Chair is also the President, then the Vice-President shall be consulted.