Junior Advisors (JAs) will no longer receive an advantage in the co-op or general housing lotteries, Residential Life and Housing Coordinator Ana Azevedo said in an email to the Record.

In previous years, JAs received an advantage in housing lotteries. Pick groups that included JAs were allotted two random timeslots instead of one, then assigned the earlier of the two. According to Azevedo, the previous policy was a way to recognize JAs for their volunteerism and to compensate them for having lived apart from their friends for an entire year.

Following previous JA classes’ advocacy for compensation, JAs now each receive a stipend of $4000 per year. In response, the Office of Campus Life (OCL) decided to change its housing policy. “In response to advocacy from JAs and other residential life leaders, the College now provides financial stipends for these important roles,” Azevedo wrote. “As a result, the housing selection advantage is no longer provided to JAs for their senior-year housing.”

Some JAs said they were not aware of the change, which was not included in a Sept. 30 email from OCL about the upcoming co-op and mid-year housing lotteries. “The fact that we didn’t hear about it from any official source is what surprised me,” said Obi Nwako ’24, who is a JA. “I think that if this was a change, our opinions could have been asked on it, at least. Or we could have been given a greater heads-up.”

“I am not thrilled about [the change], to be honest,” said Josh Kirschner ’24, another JA. “I live in Tyler Annex this year, and I’d be really happy if I had some form of advantage in the housing lottery.”