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Housing and Dining, being too cool for email announcements, has stealthily added a “New in 2009” part to the room selection section of its website. The new policies:
- “The Same Room/Same Suite policy has been eliminated. All students who wish to reside in Housing must go through the Room Selection process.
- 30 point senior groups will pick before 30 point EC Exclusion Suite groups.
- Groups of 5 seniors have the option to pick into an EC Exclusion Suite.
- Sophomore groups in Suite Selection have the option to split up into groups of 2 and pick into corridor-style doubles during Sophomore Pair Up.”
What possessed Housing to commit such madness (well, aside from the sophomore pairing up idea) is unknown at this time.
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40 Comments
@subtle divisions Once more, the mask of the internet provides a wonderful forum for individuals to speak about groups of people in an offensive manner. You could have made your points without using truly ridiculous and inaccurate terms like “hegemony” (only housing has power here; these orthodox students followed the rules), or pretending (with no basis) as if members of this community are claiming anti-semitism, or begrudging a religious minority for actually getting to know each other and for sharing values, rituals and a sense of community that would make living together and near each other worthwhile.
A simple and fair question was posted. Yes, by making things more fair for the majority, some benefits to a minority may suffer. I think government advantages to religious groups (like parsonage for clergy) is unfair, but considering religious communities have been able to build stronger community edifices that rely on it, I don’t blame their members for protecting the institution. This may very well affect Orthodox Jewish life on this campus. Having suites in proximity is a great way to support their community life (and this really isn’t a kosher issue. Anyone who knows anything about Judaism knows the only issue pork in a kitchen creates is on items that can’t be rekoshered, thus anyone who actually speaks to the demonized Orthodox Jew at Columbia knows that many of them don’t use their dishwashers, but rekosher everything else), and while it is sad in some ways that this rich community may lose out, I think this is more fair.
Housing’s decision is in no way anti-semitic, and none of the members of the Orthodox community I have spoken to at all think otherwise. Attacking these students the way some of you have does indeed sound like anti-semitism I am not accusing anyone of anti-semitism, especially not the explicit anti-semitism that we all know is wrong, but the subtle kind akin to when sports casters only ever refer to black sports stars as “athletic” comes to mind. IF something is unfair, just call it that. Why go farther unless you have some issues you need to work out? Either way, if I were an Orthodox Jew and I read the absurd way in which an otherwise reasonable relief at a more fair housing policy were turned into a celebratory attack on “Orthodox Hegemony” I would not feel as safe on this campus.
Think twice before you write such drivel.
@point is The point here is no one has an advantage over anyone else. Just because you got a good lottery number one year shouldn’t mean you get to keep good housing till you graduate. Every year is a new chance for everyone.
The seniors pick first thing was apparently a result of some groups of seniors complaining they couldn’t get into EC exclusion suites after their numbers weren’t good enough for other 5 people suites. Who these people are beats me.
@... only columbia would name a class of housing “exclusion suite”
@also on the table the other option on the table was to leave everything as it was but rename certain 5 person 3 single 1 small double suites in a certain building east of amsterdam to “inclusion suites” :D
@what? Have any of you lived in an exclusion suite? it is quite far from “the best housing on campus.”
@I agree I was thinking the same thing while reading all the comments.
Townhouses are much better than high rises anyway…
@either way you shouldn’t get a pass on the housing lottery on account of your religion
@yes but not everyone in those jewish suites are Jewish.
@hmmm Im all cool with orthodox jews taking advantage of same suite rights – it makes sense for them.
But can someone please explain to me why housing renovated top floors 20 and 18 then to only half renovate 16 to focus on 10 and 8, which just happens to be the floors these groups live. Any connection here?
@explanation they first started renovating floor 8 because it is the lowest floor in the building with the exclusion suites. when they renovated floor 8, they also renovated floor 12, skipping 10 which they renovated the next year. why they decided to skip 14 and 16 is beyond me.
@Your explanation Doesn’t make sense.
Floor 12 has not been renovated. It was scheduled to be this past summer, but due to concerns about funding, was not. They’ve done the bottom two (8, 10), and the top (20), and it appears that they are working towards the middle.
@person By all means the Orthodox Jews should be able to have special interest housing together and on low floors, etc., but there’s absolutely no reason why they have to take it out of the best housing on campus every single year.
@huh what does the whole thing about sophomores mean?
clearly I’m a freshman who doesn’t understand the housing system
@i think it means that if you try for a ruggles suite and fail you can split up into twos and not end up in blind doubles
@question Why did the Orthodox Jews pick EC in the first place? Wouldn’t they have to walk up less stairs on Shabbas in just about any other non-freshmen dorm on campus?
@Answer This got established because EC exclusion suites have the most class diversity – sophs in the doubles, then you coul have gotten same-suite rights jr and senior year (and find more fellow sophs to fill your spot.
@Senior All of you can suck it, I’m outta here!
@hmm it also prevents greeks that don’t have brownstones from taking over EC, correct?
“30 point senior groups will pick before 30 point EC Exclusion Suite groups.” I’m a bit confused– what’s the reasoning behind this one?
@this means that groups of all seniors will pick before groups of three seniors and two sophomores/juniors
@Confused Does Sophomore pair-up refer to current sophomores or current freshmen
@It means When housing says sophomores, juniors, or seniors, it usually means rising sophomores, juniors or seniors, i.e. the people who will be in that class the year they would have that housing. To answer your question, here Sophomore pair-up applies to current freshmen applying for housing next year when they will be sophomores.
@truly all of these changes make sense.
getting rid of same room/suite means the hegemony of religious students has finally ended. they want the same room/suite for kosher reasons, but what they don’t realize is that over the summer non-kosher students live there and eat tons of pork. all over the place. pork pork pork.
and the re-group makes sense, because it means less sophomores will have in blind doubles. senior regroup has always existed, the only change is that now seniors can pick ECX suites if they want them (they were doing it anyway, this just makes it easier to process)
@my religion prohibits me from having shitty living situations.
APPEASE ME, HOUSING!
@senior I don’t really see how this is a problem for anyone–if people want to have special suites (like the Orthodox Jewish suites mentioned above), they should just apply for special interest housing.
@EC 8? Hmm. What will happen to the traditionally Orthodox Jew floors of EC 8 and 10? I understood that those suites were handed down through same suite rights.
@YESS The ridiculous Orthodox hegemony over good housing is finally broken. “Oh hi you’re the same religion as I am? Have this awesome suite!”
@dude it’s about community. and rules. Orthodox Jews have a very specific lifestyle that isn’t very appealing to those not in the club (dietary rules, sabbath restrictions, etc. etc.). living together (in the same suites…not necessarily that they should all be on the same floor) makes life a lot easier for them, especially on the sabbath when they can’t take elevators (can you imagine walking up to EC 18 on a regular basis?)
@so, they get to hog prime real estate, and I can’t access it because I’m not orthodox? Get special interest housing, and stop hijacking the system for your own interests.
@get over it Not their fault that Columbia put the “prime” housing on lower level floors. They get their housing and specific lifestyle. You get your housing and the freedom to eat, drink, and play at will. Small sacrifice to make on your part. Quit complaining.
@no sorry It would be completely fucked up if every religion started doing this, and reserving good suites for people of their faith. Do the Jains hijack and create vegetarian floors? Do the Muslims insist on dry dorms? The housing lottery is supposed to create equal opportunities for all CC/SEAS undergrads, and have rightly banned this absurd practice by the Orthodox.
@fair points, but would you be complaining if a non-religious group of students did the same thing and reserved good suites through the same or some other loophole? Doesn’t sound like it.
How do you know they haven’t tried to apply for Special Housing already? So the Orthodox Jews here had good luck with the lottery and figured out how to manipulate the system before you did, and Columbia didn’t figure this out (or plan the housing designs well) until now. Columbia’s fixed the problem with the new housing rules. Stop hating. It just sounds like you’re bitter about religious groups in general. (It’s impossible for every religious group to pull the same stunt, anyway, btw. No way they’ll get all the good lottery numbers at once. And again, would you be complaining if groups without special interests hijacked the system?)
@asdfasdf “Columbia’s being anti-semitic because I have to walk up 18 flights instead of 8 flights. WAAAHHHH!!!!!!”
@d'oh i dun gett it
@the reason is... ccsc of course…they voted on these policies
so if seniors & sophomores have regroups what about juniors?
@i think that wasn’t implemented because most juniors go for singles. the exception would be river, watt, and nussbaum, and in that case you make a good point.
@vote! screw ccsc, we should put these housing policies to a vote for the entire student body. then, once the results are in, we can all argue that the voting system is flawed and a class president can write an op/ed article about how we should ignore the voting results!
@yeahh so wait.
can someone explain to me what this does?
this is good for seniors in some way is it not? like senior groups have a better chance of getting the suites they want?
my back of the envelope calculation machine is broken :(
@So, Seniors can regroup, and Sophomores can semi-regroup. I feel this is leaving something out.
@hmmm i’m unsure how this affects me
@FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK NOW WE’RE SO FUCKED.