Super suite selection moves to lottery

The process of securing a coveted super suite in Morrison Residence Hall will no longer start in a tent.

The suites will now be allocated via a lottery system instead of a first-come, first-served sign-up system, which has led students to camp outside while waiting in line.

Last Wednesday, several groups of eager students braved the weather after the basketball game to set up tents outside of the Morrison Community Office to get a spot.

But when the campers woke up the next morning, they received an email from UNC Housing and Residential Education stating that the selection process had been changed to a lottery, which will be held today.

Rick Bradley, assistant director of Housing and Residential Education, said the decision was made because of the increasing number of students who wait in line for a super suite.

“Frankly, we didn’t want students to have to camp out — and if they were going to do it 12 or 13 days in advance, we certainly didn’t want that,” he said.

The selection date is today, so the longest students would have camped this year was six days.

Super suites have three rooms each and also contain a common area. There are 38 super suites at UNC, all of which are located in the top three floors of Morrison.

The students who had set up their tents said they were not pleased with the change.

“We understand the reasoning, but we feel slighted,” said freshman Claire Crawford.

Crawford, who was in the first tent in line, said the only thing the housing department told her group was that camping was not condoned.

“The root of our frustration comes from how much effort we put into checking with housing and the fact that they changed the system halfway through the game,” she said.

Bradley said students have camped out for the suites for several years, but there never was a policy for camping out. He added that last year was the first time students set up tents on the basketball court outside of Morrison.

There are 29 suites remaining that were not claimed by their current occupiers — 15 will go to Morrison residents and 14 will go to non-Morrison residents, Bradley said.

Crawford and freshman Kyle Conroy met with Bradley on Monday to discuss the policy change.

Conroy said the housing department should have told the campers earlier.

“It should have been a definitive point that we could not camp out,” he said.

Bradley said more warning could not be given because the plan was only put into place last week.

In the meeting, Crawford and Conroy gave Bradley a petition with 56 signatures of students who spent Wednesday night in front of the community office.

They asked for a compromise: Give those who waited suites and let the rest be given out through the lottery.

Bradley said a decision has not yet been made.

Contact the desk editor at university@dailytarheel.com.