Residents of theme and program houses will now be selected through a randomized lottery. Taking away program houses’ freedom to select their own members erodes their ability to create a safe and belonging community of shared interests and destroys program housing as we know it. The goal of this petition is to prevent the imposition of random-lottery-based recruitment for Program Housing.

Program houses have had a long tradition of self-governance in consultation with ResLife. Our selection processes are each unique and one of the most important parts of the communities we create. ResLife’s unilateral and unconsulted policy change threatens this essential part of the Program Housing experience, and flies in the face of long-standing precedent set by ResLife themselves, whereby Program Houses structure their own community.

This is not an everyday policy change, this could strip away students' rights and leadership spaces. It destroys Black, Indigenous, latine, international and women's affinity spaces, and decimates our ability to create close communities of shared interest, such as Technology House and Environmental House.

The proposed policies were implemented without consulting with Program Houses. Key issues, such as allowing returning members to continue living in-house, and the status of out-of-house members, have not yet been addressed. The policies proposed by ResLife are incomplete. They are a draft, and not mature enough for full implementation. One of the main goals of ResLife’s new policies is to simplify the housing process. However, administering program housing recruitment, without consideration for “edge cases” that ResLife seem unaware of, only makes the process harder and more labour-intensive to administer. A clear, well-defined policy is necessary, and can only be reached in consultation with students, and the Program Housing community.

The proposed process is unfair both to current members of these organizations and to potential lottery-admitted members. Program houses have a reputation on campus because of the work of our selected students. With no clear way to keep our systems intact, our houses will be hollowed. Future students will not get the chance to experience our houses the way we intended, reducing them to simple dorms. The Office of Residential Life has not addressed these concerns.

The role of the Program Housing selection process is not to exclude. We are residential communities, united by shared ideals, affinities, and interests. We do not exclude any interested students, and anyone can apply.

The selection process is meant to ensure that the residents understand the responsibility that comes with living in a program house. The students must demonstrate that they are fully committed to living in our community, by the ideals that define us. Program Houses are meant to be a safe space, spaces where residents are committed to upholding community and shared values, whatever they may be. Simply allowing anyone to enter these spaces, by checking a box, decimates the core of our house and undermines the safety of our residents.