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"Free agency" is the name given to the system of undergraduate life and housing beginning in 1993 [http://www.williams.edu/resources/committees/cul/reports/2005.pdf [1<nowiki>]</nowiki>] and which will end with the [[Spring 2006]] semester, when that semester's [[room draw]] will pave the way for [[Anchor housing|Neighborhoods]].
Free agency is so called because it is the system at Williams to date under which students had the most options when entering room draw, the all-campus lottery in which students living on campus chose their habitations next year. Whereas in past systems of residential life, upperclassmen chose membership (and therefore housing) with a fraternity affiliation, or were locked into living in one [[Buildings#Student Housing|house]], free agency placed comparatively few restrictions on a student's choice. A low pick in the lottery meant fewer vacancies to choose from, but this was, in early free agency, the only restriction.
==The Rise of Free Agency==
''If you are an alum from the time period around 1990-1993, please fill this in!''
At the end of the house affiliation period, students disatisfied with the prospect of living in the same house for three full years began unofficially trading rooms. The extent of student-run room trading increased so dramatically that the College administration recognized significant deficiencies with the house affiliation system. In 1993, free agency was instituted as College housing policy, giving it official status after several years of ''de facto'' operation.
==The Decline of Free Agency==
These restrictions to room draw were what caused the student body as a whole to take an alarmed notice to the movement that would eventually end free agency, but students noted little more action regarding residential life restructuring by the next CUL other than their [http://www.williams.edu/resources/committees/cul/reports/2003.pdf satisfaction survey], and the CUL of the year after that comprised something of a hiccup. That CUL, of 2003 - 4, tasked itself with the examination of alcohol policy [http://www.williams.edu/resources/committees/cul/reports/2004.pdf].
But the 2004-6 CULs returned to a focus on residential life, and these years were the golden sunset of free agency, which would make way for the new system of residential life, which has had many names. Willipedia's article covering the system is named for the name by wich which it was first widely known: [[Anchor housing|Anchor Housing]]. [[Category:History]][[Category:Student Housing 2.0]]
