March 28, 2024 | NEWS | By Tessa Frantz
Rising sophomores and juniors alike logged onto their housing portals Wednesday afternoon, eager to secure apartments for next year. But, at 1:15 p.m., less than an hour after students began to sign up for housing, the process was abruptly postponed. In an email to all students planning on living in on-campus housing next year, the Housing office deemed that they must “postpone the apartment housing selection process originally scheduled for Wednesday, March 27 to Tuesday, April 2.”
This delay in housing was caused by unforeseen technical issues with StarRez, Colorado College’s housing software. Specifically, students were unable to organize co-ed apartments and were confined to signing up with peers of their gender. According to Samantha Soren, Director of Housing and Residential Experience, “about half of our spaces were coded so that the gender of the first applicant was being pulled in.”
After receiving numerous complaints, the housing office made the decision to postpone the housing selection process altogether. “When it comes to apartments or any space on campus, we want you to be able to live with who you want to live with and who you’re comfortable living with,” Soren said. Because of this, any apartment reservations that occurred today were invalidated.
Colorado College made the switch from manually assigning rooms to using StarRez software in 2022. The shift was intended to remove bias from room assignments and to avoid manual errors.
Controversy over housing at Colorado College isn’t a new phenomenon. In recent years, students have demanded change over various issues with housing organization and selection. In 2022, there was a shortage in senior housing, causing an uproar amongst the student body. While about 200 seniors expressed a need for on-campus housing, only 75 spots were made available. This triggered a student sit-in at Bemis hall, protesting the lack of housing and demanding transparency from the housing office.
Last year, students claimed that the time slots in which students could log on and acquire housing were unfairly distributed. Some students, like rising juniors, were dismayed when rising sophomores received better time slots than they did. Many rising juniors were not able to secure apartments and raised questions about how time slots were distributed, and if high school AP or IB credits should be a factor in determining student housing.
The Housing office maintains that this delay was an “isolated incident” and that they are working with StarRez to ensure that the housing portal is functional for next week. Soren contends that “over the next 36 hours, the residential experience team is going to go through every single room in our housing software and make sure that everything is accurately coded… [We are] making sure all genders can live together.”
Soren also expresses sympathy for students who have been affected by the delays in housing. “We’re truly sorry,” she said. “We’re trying to make this right, which is why we made the decision to have a full stop.We just want to make sure that we can regain the trust of our students.”
Looking ahead, all student housing selections will take place on consecutive days next week. Apartment selections will take place on April 2, with the same time slots students were originally assigned. All other housing selections are intended to remain on their original dates. Residence halls and small houses selection will open on April 3 for rising juniors, and April 4 for rising sophomores.