<p>Dear Students, </p>
<p>Members of College Council recently met with President Schapiro, Dean Roseman, and Director of Campus Life Doug Bazuin to formally represent the student body’s opposition to the implementation of the Committee on Undergraduate Life’s “Williams House System” proposal. We write now to inform students of our actions and of the fact that the administration is committed to implementing some form of cluster housing in 2007.</p>
<p>In light of the limited student support for the CUL’s proposal, College Council advocated against its full implementation. Instead we encouraged the administration to push forward with the proposal’s most popular components — dorm renovations, increased Co-op housing, strengthened peer and faculty advising, and a six person pick size — but to refrain from restricting room draw to within a cluster. We also recommended restructuring ACE and strengthening the HC system as an alternative to the CUL’s proposal. </p>
<p>Although we continue to believe that implementing residential restrictions is not the proper step for the College to take, it is clear that the administration is committed to establishing cluster housing at Williams. </p>
<p>Consequently College Council believes that it can best serve the interests of the student body by working with students to make the new housing system as successful as possible. We see this approach as being more productive than continuing to fight for an option we do not have and thus compromising our opportunity to have at least some role in influencing impending changes in residential life. </p>
<p>The future of Williams residential life will involve some form of cluster housing, but everything beyond this conceptual foundation is in students’ hands. </p>
<p>Over the course of the next year College Council will work to ensure that whatever is implemented beyond cluster restrictions reflects student opinion and enjoys student support. </p>
<p>Please let us know if you have any ideas, comments, or questions for us to address. Information on the CUL’s proposal is available at:
<a href=“http://www.williams.edu/resources/committees/cul/housesystem.html[/url]”>http://www.williams.edu/resources/committees/cul/housesystem.html</a>.</p>
<p>Best wishes for the rest of the school year,</p>
<p>The Williams College Council</p>