It’s been more than a year since the University revamped its housing policy and the Draw system as part of the Housing Master Plan, and after submitting their housing preferences and living with the implementations, students have said that they like the simplified Draw system but still take issue with some of the housing assignments.

“Student survey scores are very strong, requests for reassignment are down, as are questions from students requiring assistance to navigate the Draw system,” wrote Rodger Whitney, executive director of student housing, in an e-mail to The Daily.

One of the largest changes in housing is the “unstuffing” of dorms, or the return of certain dorms to their originally intended capacity. Mirrielees, one of the dorms affected by this change, had in recent years housed three students in its two-bedroom apartments, originally designed for just two students.

“I think it’s a really good idea that they turned Mirrielees into doubles,” said Crystal Kyaw ’10, “because it was really cramped when they had three people in two rooms.”

Kyaw currently lives in Mirrieless and lived there last year, before the rooms were “unstuffed.”

Another major change has been the switch from the preferred/unpreferred system in which students only chose from two levels of Draw numbers, with two preferred years, to the current three-tier system. This new system gives students one year at each level, ensuring that each student will be guaranteed one year of preferred housing and one year of less desirable housing.

“The transition from preferred/unpreferred years to a three-tiered system has been very positively received, and has significantly cut down on the confusion about Draw participation,” Whitney said. “With the three-tiered system, students have a more evenly spread distribution of Draw numbers over their career at Stanford.”

“I think it’s a good idea that they have three different tiers, as opposed to the unpreferred/preferred system, because it gives you more flexibility,” Kyaw said.

Lauren YoungSmith ’13, new to the Draw, likes the new system. She pre-assigned into Chi Theta Chi for next year.

“It was really easy–I just filled out the form, and then I ended up getting in,” YoungSmith said. “I guess it worked out really well this year, because I’m using a tier three to live in a co-op where I want to live. I guess I’d have a different opinion if I got screwed over, but I think it’s set up really well.”

As a freshman, YoungSmith is part of the first class to arrive at Stanford with the new all-freshman housing in Wilbur and Stern. However, YoungSmith opted for four-class housing and currently lives in Gavilan in FloMo.

“I chose four-class because I normally have a lot of friends who are older, but then I quickly came to realize that living in a four-class dorm isn’t fun because I didn’t realize that the upperclassmen in the dorm are people that just get dropped there after going abroad, so they don’t really want to talk to us or hang out with us,” YoungSmith said. “There is less of a sense of community. I wouldn’t choose four-class again.”

YoungSmith’s reaction, despite her initial choice, is part of why Housing opted to offer more all-freshman dorms, as students tend to prefer this option.

“The addition of more all-freshman houses was undertaken in response to the desire of incoming students to live in all-frosh houses,” Whitney said. “In the past, we did not have enough all-freshman houses to give most people their first choice of housing type. This year, our availability was much better matched to the requests of the incoming class, so we believe the change has been very well received.”

Some students, however, mourn the loss of some of the old housing like the classic freshman dorm, Branner, which is no longer all-frosh.

“It’s kind of sad that they turned it into upperclass housing, because I had a really good time there freshman year,” Kyaw said.

Housing still does have a slight overflow winter quarter, due to fewer students going abroad at that time, and is forced to offer Oak Creek and Escondido Village housing to returning students.

“The use of a block of apartments in the Oak Creek Apartments complex has proved a very effective model for housing undergraduates very near to the main campus, and is something which we are intending to do again this year,” Whitney said.

However, this is an unpopular move with many students, as Escondido Village is rather isolated from other housing, and Oak Creek is extremely isolated off campus.

“One housing change that has been really horrible for some upperclassmen is putting people coming back from abroad in Oak Creek and E.V.,” said Julie Smith ’11. “No one should be forced to live there if they don’t want to. Oak Creek apartments are good for the right type of people, but for me, it was incredibly isolating, and I got extremely lonely and depressed.”

Smith has since moved back onto campus, as she was only in Oak Creek for one quarter, and feels that the perks of having a real apartment were not worth the long distance and lack of student community.

“Basically, my opinion is that Stanford Housing needs to be more responsible about ‘unstuffing’ the dorms, because I would much rather have lived in a cramped on-campus triple than lived off campus winter quarter,” Smith said.

A few of the other changes in recent years include the addition of gender-neutral housing, which is continuing, and the new requirement during the Draw that students apply to specific room types.

“The most significant change of the Draw this year is allowing students to apply with building and room type,” Whitney said. “We have not yet had much feedback on this change, but believe it will be very helpful in making the in-house draw processes run smoothly.”

Student Housing is working on some new projects for the next few years, including the addition of a “Green Row House” and another building in the Manzanita complex. They are also renovating the Wilbur bathrooms, Bob, Casa Italiana and Storey this summer. Stanford Dining is also building a new dining hall near Crothers and Toyon, slated to be finished by fall 2011.