Changes

Anchor Housing, also known as ''Cluster Housing'Note:', the ''Williams House System'', or ''Neighborhood Anchor Housing'', is no longer the new upperclass housing residential system implemented at Williams; upperclassmen are no longer restricted to be one neighborhood. Anchor Housing was the residential system implemented in fall 2006under the official name "Neighborhood Housing. " The CUL refers to system is covered here under the system by its latest name, ''neighborhood'', but students most commonly call the system ''anchor'' or ''cluster'' housing, the original namesit first bore before a significant series of [[#Etymology|name changes]].

CurrentlyBefore the start of "Neighborhood" housing in Fall 2006, Williams upperclass housing is was a "[[Free agency|free agent]]" system. Students form formed groups of 4 up to four and are were assigned lottery numbers within their class. They Individuals then choose chose rooms on campus in order of lottery number, from lowest to highest.

There are ideas for a "House Cup" and House IM teams, cluster-associated faculty and informal faculty dinnersevents with them, designated bulletin boards in the new Baxter[[Paresky Center]], and cluster outings, but plans are not definite yet. Some students (and CUL members) have joked about whether the [http://wso.williams.edu/discuss/comments.php?DiscussionID=140 clusters will be named after the houses in the Harry Potter books]. As it turned out, the clusters ended up being named after their anchor houses, though some other sets of four names were available for voting.

* '''[[Curriercluster|Currier]]''': [[Fitch]], [[Prospect]], [[East]], [[Fayerweather]]* '''[[Dodd cluster|Dodd]]''': [[Hubbell]], [[GoodrichHouse]], [[Parsons]], [[Sewall]], [[Tyler]], [[Tyler Annex]], [[Thompson]], [[Lehman]]* '''[[Spencer cluster|Spencer]]''': [[Morgan]], [[West]], [[Brooks]], [[Bryant]], [[Mark Hopkins]]* '''[[Wood cluster|Wood]]''': [[Perry]], [[Garfield]], [[Agard]], [[Gladden]], [[Carter]]

The houses [[ChadbourneHouse]], [[DoughtyHouse]], [[LambertHouse]], [[MilhamHouse]], [[Poker Flats]], [[Rectory]], [[Susie HopkinsHouse]], and [[Woodbridge House]] will remain (or become) [[co-op|co-ops]].

[[Dodd Annex ]] will become Econ. Faculty OfficesEconomics faculty offices.

For the CUL's complete description of anchor housing, see the [http://www.williams.edu/resources/committees/cul/reports/2005.pdf full proposal]. It is fairly detailed and includes a history of housing at Williams, though it perpetuates the misconception that the change from House Affiliation house affiliation to [[Free Agency agency|free agency]] was driven by the administration and was "accidental." In fact, students were freely swapping rooms well before the official switch to Free Agency, thus a de facto free agency system existed at the end of the House Affiliation period.

In [[winter study|Winter Study ]] 2004, news was leaked to the Williams ''[http://www.williamsrecord.com/wr/?view=article&section=news&id=6225 Record]'' that the 2004-2005 CUL (led by Professor Will Dudley, an alum from the days when students were affiliated with one house throughout their upperclass years) was going to propose the system again. The proposed system involved creating six clusters, with houses in each cluster scattered across campus but united by a centrally located [[anchor house]]. Each Freshman [[entry]] would be associated with a cluster, and rising sophomores would join the cluster of their entry. In the [http://www.williamsrecord.com/wr/?view=article&section=news&id=6308 second article] breaking the story, [[Morton Owen Schapiro|Morty]] was quoted as saying, "It’s in the interests of the students, ultimately. The challenge is to explain why."

Shortly thereafter, commentary surfaced in the ''Record'', saturated [[WSO Blogs]], and continued for some time after the initial announcement. Most of the commentary from students was very critical of the proposed change. A group of students dedicated to preventing the implementation of anchor housing and maintaining [[free agency ]] housing formed the group [[Anchors Away]]. These students conducted surveys of students (in one case, they collected written opinions from almost 200 Williams students opposed to anchor housing), wrote letters to the CUL, ''Record'', and [[Trustees]], and compiled documents detailing student objections to the anchor housing proposal. Their efforts culminated in a failed campaign for the [[College Council]] co-presidency by two of their founding members.

The CUL finally [http://www.williamsrecord.com/wr/?view=article&section=news&id=6484 submitted] its proposal to the administration under the name "Williams House System" in late February 2005, and recieved the [[Administration|Administration's]] approval. The CUL declared that its mission in the 2005-2006 academic year would consist solely of determining how exactly the transition from free agency to anchor housing would be carried out. Asserting that the decision to move to the new system itself ought still to be at issue, students in [[Anchors Away]] argued that the administration was ignoring dissenting students' opinion.

A suggestion by Dean [[Nancy Roseman ]] took both the CUL and student body by surprise in December 2005. Dean Roseman believed that there might not be enough dedicated students to fill the number of leadership positions needed in a five-cluster system. The new idea reduced the number of clusters to four and changed the distribution of dorms within clusters. In an effort to make each cluster's dorm space more equitable, the new plan turned [[Morgan]], [[Lehman]], [[East]], and [[FayFayerweather]] into upper-class (likely sophomore) housing, and moved the freshman entries previously located in those dorms to [[Mission Park]]. The former first-year dorms would recieve renovations to bolster the number of singles and availability of [[common room|common space]]. In general, students were encouraged by the reduction in number of clusters, but opinion on the relocation of freshmen was mixed. When students returned from [[Dead Week]] 2006, they recieved letters signed by [[Morton Owen Schapiro|President Schapiro ]] and Dean Roseman announcing that this four-cluster plan will would be adopted in fall 2006, and students would enter it through the Spring 2006 [[room draw]]. == Etymology == Over the years, the system pushed forward to replace free agency has had many names, depending on the year and the discoursing parties. In its first years, 2001-3, Anchor Housing or Anchor Affiliation was the name given the proposed system by the CUL and used by all discussants.  When the CUL of 2004-5 gave the system a serious revision it decided to push new names for it as well. In Spring 2005, Professor Will Dudley, CUL chair, discussed the system under the name Cluster Housing or Cluster Affiliation in his visit then to [[College Council]]. He believed that the old name was part of what held back student acceptance of the system, that it carried the poor connotation of dead weight and being "tied down." The CUL report in late Spring of that year would refer to the system as "The Williams House System," but while "Cluster Housing" had been adopted somewhat by the community at large, "Williams House System" never entered common parlance. When the movement to affiliated housing and the debate over it resumed with the next academic year, the 2005-6 CUL began referring to clusters as "Neighborhoods." Helped in part by [[Anchors Away]], whose members refused to use the updated monikers probably partly due to counter-campaigning of their own, many students continued to use the original name, "Anchor Housing." ''Record'' news articles covering the system used the official up-to-date terms as they arose, while usually also including old ones. In contrast, some disgruntled students went a step in the other direction and termed the residential system by derogatory names, one of the most widely caught-on being ''Clusterfuck'' -- from military slang, a disastrous situation that results from the cumulative errors of several people or groups. Also known as Charlie Foxtrot, in semi-polite company.

However, the Committee on Undergraduate Life made statements to the effect that a student opinion poll would not affect their decision. The 2005-2006 CUL has dedicated intself itself to implementing anchor housing in fall 2006.

The CUL Cluster housing, defined by the division of the campus as four different Neighborhoods, is debating how fully in motion and began to function at the beginning of the 2006 fall semester.  Students elected leaders to fill four positions on each neighborhood board as well as electing to accomplish retain the existing names over such choices as nearby mountains and the transition Ninja Turtles. In addition to anchor housingthe elected students, how houses should each board will contain one [[HLC]] (basically an HC) who will also be on the board. These students will be governedarriving early to school for planning, team building and training in how to evaluate navigate the success or failure of clusters in the future, college's event regulations and how funding should be allocated to clustersbudgets.

Edit [[Stuff Freshmen lived in entries loosely affiliated with Neighborhoods while all upperclassmen and most off-campus seniors picked into and are now living in one of the CUL should do]] to provide input to the Committeefour neighborhoods.

The [http://www.williams.edu/resources/committees/cul/members.html CUL website] currently contains a member list, links to previous CUL reports, and a feedback form. There are also minutes from some of the subcommittee meetings. In addition, there is a CUL listserv maintained by WSO: <email>cul@wso.williams.edu</email>. Students are encouraged to send feedback, comments, and suggestions to the CUL via the web form or , this e-mail address, or by editing [[Stuff the CUL should do]].

''The CUL [[Faculty Associates and Affiliates]]One of the assets of the anchor housing system is increasing opportunities for student-faculty interaction. Though the neighborhoods will be largely student-run, they will also apparently tried to obtain receive some assistance from a small number of faculty associates in conjunction with the names Office of Campus Life. In addition, every faculty member on campus will be affiliated with one of students who had edited this wiki article before logins were requiredthe four residential neighborhoods, and have the opportunity to participate in some neighborhood activities.''