<e upon a time, there was a beautiful brick building named Evans Hall. The outside architecture was impeccably designed but the columns inside were tragically flawed. It was impossible to traverse the hallways horizontally; students could only move in a vertical direction. This fire safety hazard, however, did not deter excited sophomores and juniors from drawing into Evans every year. The anticipation of living in quads or extra-large doubles that could be utilized for entertainment purposes was overwhelmingly tempting, especially for those faced with the alternative rooming situation of Goodhue or Musser.
Yet, Residential Life finally took note of the strange configuration of Evans, and decided to take action. And after a year of planning, the building will be officially closed for six months for renovation. From the ashes of the Evans that we know will arise a new Evans, a mythical place full of one-roomed triples and quads. The brand new, shiny interior will once again draw crowds of students with the hopes of living in one of the more favored residential hall on campus.
The room draw for Evans will take place next Monday in Boliou 104. First priority goes to pairs or groups of students who will all be off-campus during Fall term. Second priority then goes to hybrid pairs of students who will be both on and off-campus. And finally, those who will not be abroad at all will get third pick. The question remains: how fast will these rooms be drawn?
One initial concern would be the desirability of a four-room quad: how many students are truly excited to live with three other people, all within the same enclosed space? Tales have been told amongst our staff—particularly those who live in one-room triples already—of hours of sleep or productivity lost due to differences in scheduling. As much as we like to have giant sleepovers, there comes a time in the term where the need for rest trumps the need to socialize. If you’re already tiptoeing into your room at midnight because one of your roommates goes to bed early, and then waking up at seven-thirty because your other roommate is a “morning person,” there will come a time when your sleep deprivation catches up with you. Imagine how much more difficult this would be with a fourth person thrown into the fray?
On a similar note, Evans next year will have very few doubles. Since many students prefer a one-room double to a one-room triple, this might deter students from showing up next Monday. What happens to those students if no other campus doubles open up for them? They will end up Musserable, and walk away with bitter hearts (especially if they are juniors).
Whether or not we will show up for the Evans room draw ourselves, the campus will be waiting with baited breath to see how the distribution of rooms unfolds.