The Housing Lottery

Editorial: Information breach

For an unknown length of time, private student data including Social Security numbers, insurance information, and lists of students on medical and disciplinary leave were available on the campus server to anyone with a Bowdoin username and password. While the accessibility of the data was surely an error, with such sensitive information on the line, it was an inexcusable one.

Editorial: Ivies Weekend

Bowdoin's geography makes the end of April an extraordinary time for the campus and its students. While many other campuses around the country have settled comfortably into the new season, Bowdoin students are only now beginning to shed their winter coats for T-shirts and their boots and sneakers for sandals and flip-flops.
As it often does, the advent of warm weather this year coincides with the arrival of Ivies Weekend, Bowdoin's annual end-of-April catharsis. The enthusiasm that results from this confluence of events has been palpable all week, and will culminate this weekend as students enjoy a well-deserved vacation from the pressures of academia to celebrate the real beginning of spring.
Traditionally, Ivies weekend has been fueled by a spirit of indulgence specifically with regard to the consumption of alcohol. As a result, Security has once again stepped up its presence this weekend. While students might feel instinctively bothered by this increased presence, they should not be. While they remain committed to maintaining order on campus, Security does not have any interest in spoiling the festivities for students. In recent years, under the direction of Randy Nichols, Security has taken a mature, accommodating approach to Ivies Weekend, prioritizing preserving safety over taking the opportunity to slap students with frivolous citations.

Editorial

This piece represents the opinion of The Bowdoin Orient editorial board.

April 18, 2008

We've noticed them, too: the private debates, the somber phone conversations, the dining hall conferences, even the tears. Despite what has easily been the balmiest weather of the year, an Eeyorian cloud has hung over a number of Bowdoin students all week, reminding everybody that Housing Lottery season?the stormiest of all seasons?has once again arrived.

For many students, but first years in particular, Housing Lottery season is a crash course in diplomacy. There are many things to take into consideration, foremost among which is how to create a housing block without shutting anybody out or hurting someone's feelings. While sophomores and juniors may already have an inner circle they can count on, forming housing blocks can force some first years into the awkward process of selecting "favorites" from among the many friends and acquaintances they have made over the course of the year. Rising juniors, meanwhile, struggle to compromise housing preferences with study-abroad schedules and those of their friends. At the top of the food chain, seniors compete for the prestigious spaces some have coveted since their first year at Bowdoin.

This scramble to finagle an ideal living situation, combined with the wearying bureaucracy associated with it, can put an enormous strain on friendships. The Housing Lottery may not be the most stressful time of the year?but then again, course registration and exam periods are personal struggles, and students have much more control over their outcomes. In housing, students face the housing issue as groups, and they are helpless to influence the process. If things don't turn out as hoped, frustration can take the form of squabbling, resentment, and passive aggression. After all, in a fast-paced, communal atmosphere that can be draining at times, people take the quality of their private dwellings very seriously.

But for students who feel emotionally taxed by Housing Lottery season?especially first years, for whom the process is newest and perhaps most challenging?maintaining perspective is crucial. If you did not get to live where you had hoped, do not despair. Objectively speaking, there are very few, if any, "bad" places to live on campus. While certain residences are held in deservedly high esteem and others less so, the differences in quality within Bowdoin's housing options are really quite small?certainly too small to generate any legitimate animus among friends or between competing blocks.

Being comfortable in your own home is important. But for students who walk away from this year's lottery frustrated, beware of self-fulfilling prophesies. Students can't choose a good lottery number, but they can choose how to react to a bad one, and an optimistic attitude can go a long way toward spinning bad lotto luck into positive returns.

The editorial represents the majority view of The Bowdoin Orient?s editorial board, which comprises Steve Kolowich, Anne Riley, Anna Karass, Adam Kommel, Mary Helen Miller, Joshua Miller, and Cati Mitchell.

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