By Spencer de tenley, staff writer

As a rising sophomore, I recently went through the housing selection process and have a few grievances.

First and foremost, students who are a part of honors programs should get priority housing selection. As a member of the University Scholars Program, I have some bias, but I feel this is a valid complaint. As rising first-years, Xavier already guarantees priority housing for first-year students in honors programs. 

Priority housing was a considerable benefit, understandably and a significant reason many students would apply to Xavier’s honors programs. I feel as though being a part of such a selective and honorable group should have consistent benefits throughout our college experience. 

The Xavier website notes honors students “benefit from priority housing selection, early course registration, travel stipends and access to private honors study lounges.” Every one of these benefits, except for priority housing selection, is upheld every year an honors student is at Xavier. Therefore, it is unfair for arguably one of the most critical aspects of these programs to be offered only in the first year. 

Students in the honors programs are held to a higher academic and moral standard every year; however, they are not awarded the same benefits every year. Overall, if we as honors students are being held to similar expectations every year, why are the added benefits not similar?

Secondly, Xavier, at the end of the first semester, sent out awards to all the students, placing those “who complete at least six credit hours for letter grades with a grade point average of at least 3.500 on the Dean’s List for that term.” 

Thus, I feel that incentivizing higher academically-achieving students should guarantee the benefit of priority housing. Dean’s List students are being recognized not only because they achieved academic excellence, but also because they are reliable students. 

Hence, I guarantee that more often than not, students on the Dean’s List are more committed to their academics than students who are not. If Xavier recognizes well-performing students, then the benefit of priority housing should be given to those students.

 Finally, the current housing selection system is disorganized and unfair. The current system’s luck-of-the-draw process means that students choosing later have very limited chances of getting into the housing they prefer. 

I understand that not everyone can get the housing they want, but I believe that students who are a part of honors and scholars programs or were recognized on the Dean’s List should have some priority over other students. 

If the housing selection process were better organized into more groups, students would be more satisfied with their housing selections. For example, a student who did not earn academic distinction and did not receive their first pick housing selection would likely feel more justified than a student who had earned academic distinction and did not receive their first-pick housing selection. 

Overall, the incentive of priority housing for academically high-achieving students would be a great way to help improve Xavier students’ academic rapport while also leading to a more justified and fair housing selection system.