SA R74 (2025-2026): Transparency in First-Year Program House Access and Placement Outcomes

Returned by the President

• Resolution:
  SA R74 (2025-2026): Transparency in First-Year Program House Access and Placement Outcomes
• Day:
  April 24, 2026
• Action:
  Returned by the President
• Summary / Notes:
• File Attachments:
• Text Attachment:

  Dear Zora,

  Thank you for conveying Resolution 74: Transparency in First-Year Program House Access and Placement Outcomes. I am returning the resolution to the Assembly for further discussion. Housing and Residential Life cannot provide the detailed report the Assembly requests as each program house is unique in selection and scope. Housing and Residential Life has confirmed that they are able to address selection data with each house individually that wishes to do so. However, I have asked that they address a few key points made in the resolution. 

  I also encourage the Student Assembly to work with the Director of the Office of the Assemblies to arrange a meeting with Dan Sweeney, AVP Student and Campus Life, and Kath Fenzel, Executive Director of Housing Operations and Administration, to discuss these questions further. I include below a response from Ms. Fenzel on the issues addressed by the resolution.

  Sincerely, 

   

  Michael Kotlikoff 

   

  For the 2025-2026 housing selection process, Housing and Residential Life added a “Priority Program House Selection” (PPHS) option to allow students to indicate on their applications up to three program houses. They then received the first timeslots to select into any of those three spaces.  

  This new process is meant to help build intentional communities for the program houses by giving students that want to live there first access to these spaces. Prior to the implementation of PPHS, we found that students sometimes decided, at the end of open room selection, that they would rather choose to live in a North Campus program house single room over a different room type on South Campus, even if they had no specific interest in the program house. 

  In recent years, the number of students who have sought to live in program houses has varied by community but has generally declined overall. We have also found that at times, students who have expressed interest in a program house might not be assigned there due to overriding SDS accommodations that place them elsewhere to meet their needs, or because a student might have a preferred roommate who has a housing request in a non-program house. We have worked with students in the past who have decided to forego their accommodation and select into a program house. Outside of the aforementioned examples involving SDS accommodations and roommates, we are unaware of any student that prioritized a program house being denied to live there. 

  Housing and Residential Life would be happy to meet with members of the Student Assembly to discuss this process and how best to support our students’ residential experiences through Cornell’s program houses. 

  Sincerely,

   

  Kath Fenzel