ResLife strips five program houses of their status by Mike Sanfilippo News Editor In the most sweeping series of changes since their inception half a decade ago, five program houses will be eliminated this semester for failure to comply with the standards of the recently revised program housing policy. Three of the houses, Beta Theta Pi, Heathen House, and Art House, are appealing the process, while Intercultural House and Chi Psi have not contested the action and have officially lost their status as program houses. The move comes on the heels of broad new housing policy introduced at the beginning of this year, which dictates that houses on provisional status for 2 out of 3 semesters will be eliminated from the program housing pool. Each of the houses that lost their status was implicated in such a manner. “The hope is that by removing the houses that struggle we will provide the opportunities for those that want a chance,” said Jeff Ederer, director of Residential Life. Program houses are graded on 6 areas, each with a possible value of three points each, including house commitment, programming points, occupancy rates, house manager role, advisor mentoring and community standards. A house will be placed on provisional status if it garners less than 15 out of 18 possible points. Out of 29 program houses, 11 had perfect scores and 16 have been in good standing for the last three semesters. “We have to work to protect program housing,” Ederer said. “The thing is that we have some regularly who do well, and it is really about making the program houses as strong as possible.” If the houses are eliminated, there will be some spots open for new program houses. According to Ederer, Reslife has already received one application, for Buddhist House, which is currently being processed. While there is a possibility of five new spots opening, there is still a chance that some of the appealing houses will be reinstated as program houses. “Since they are appealing the point value, if the appeal is granted it is likely that they are likely to be accepted on good status,” Ederer said. Beta, the only member of the group that owns its house, missed being placed on good status by one point, and is appealing on the grounds that it should have been graded higher in certain areas. If the appeal is not successful, however, it will lose its on-campus status but will still retain its house. Future students wishing to live in Beta must apply for off-campus housing, a somewhat arduous process that can only be completed once a year, so students wishing to move in mid-semester will not be allowed to do so. Heathen house, which lost points in the house advisor, community standards, occupancy, and house commitment fields, will have their appeal heard on February 5. “I believe the decision to eliminate the house was unfair,” said Amanda Brown ‘05, house manager of Heathen House. “I believe the loss of a point in community standards came from some pictures taken in our house. While we were cooking, smoke from the kitchen set off the fire alarm, so we had to drop everything and go outside. Obviously the kitchen was a mess, and pictures were taken at that time which were subsequently given to Reslife. The loss of a point in the category of occupancy resulted from the fact that this house has boarders, and I am honestly not sure why we lost a point for house commitment.” Art House, which currently does not have a house manager due to the former H.M. going abroad, lost the bulk of their points in community standards area, where they received zero points. They will also be appealing mid week, although they have already had a boarder placed in a vacant spot by Residential Life. Intercultural House, which moved to 356 Washington at the beginning of this year because of occupancy problems, ran into similar trouble but did not submit an appeal. “It was pretty much the decision of the house,” said Heather Reel ‘05, House Manager of Intercultural House. “Given our house’s party rep, they [Residential Life] have been wanting to do this for a while. There have been lots of problems with our house in general. It’s not a good house for a program, because it’s so big it’s like a dorm and it’s so far from campus that its hard to have a presence.” According to Reel, I-House will be taking a semester off to rethink its mission statement. In the meantime, the house has reverted back to normal undergraduate housing, and new residents have already moved into the vacant rooms. In perhaps the final chapter of their long saga at the University, Chi Psi had announced that they were going to appeal, but failed to do so, according to Ederer. The house had been the subject of controversy earlier this year, when there was contention over the placement of boarders in singles and brothers in doubles. The fraternity, which lost their house last year but regained it this past semester after doing large amounts of community service, will once again be estranged from the lodge, though it appears to be for good this time. Those living in the houses that lost their status will still remain there this semester, although there will be no acting house managers, and the houses will be considered simply part of the normal housing. As of now, all houses except Beta will most likely enter into the general lottery next year. The new changes in policy that have affected the change evolved over five years of constant revisions and modifications. According to Ederer, in the beginning there was very little criteria placed on program houses, and they were reviewed once a year at the end of the spring semester. The problem was that there was little continuity between the years, and a new group of people living in the house would be judged by the standard of the past residents. In order to eliminate the gap between years, the University decided to conduct reviews every semester. The way the current process works, an area coordinator conducts the review, and then passes it on to the office of Residential life. Once Residential life offers their recommendation, they are sent to the Dean of the College, the Dean of Student Services, and the Chairman of the SAC Emily Polak ‘05 where they make a ruling. The five houses were on provisional status in spring ’02, and then this semester as well. They were notified of their loss of status in mid December. For continuing coverage, Fridays issue will contain the results of the appeals process.

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