Editor’s note: This article was initially published in The Daily Gazette, Swarthmore’s online, daily newspaper founded in Fall 1996. As of Fall 2018, the DG has merged with The Phoenix. See the about page to read more about the DG.
The Junior housing lottery opened with handful of open single-occupancy and many multiple-occupancy rooms. The first room went to number 416. Several dorms were closed to certain genders to preserve gender balances: Woolman doubles were inaccessible to “those who identify as female,” and several Mertz halls were closed to females. Alice Paul and Mertz closed quickly, followed by Dana and Hallowell. By no. 556, all of the on-campus singles were taken.
All of the lofts in Alice Paul were taken, along with several doubles in David Kemp, quads in Wharton, and every Mary Lyon single.
After two hours, the wait-list opened at 660. In a sudden twist, however, Housing Coordinator Liz Derickson ’01 realized that one last single in Pittenger was still available. The room was readily given to the only auctioneer, no. 770.
Mertz was actually open to men the entire junior lottery; it closed to women fairly early on. At this point, all the doubles and singles in Mertz are gone.