Dorm Crew Lottery Ends Dawn Wait

A lottery in early May will assign year-end dorm clean-up jobs to students, replacing the first-come, first-serve method used in previous years, the director of student employment said yesterday.

Last May, nearly 600 students waited outside the student employment office in the early morning hours to get aproximately 150 dorm clean-up jobs which pay $150 for one week of work before Commencement. Many students spent the night there so they could be at the front of the line when the doors to Byerly Hall opened at 7 a.m.

Foolish in the Morning

"It would be foolish to have all those people out there at 4 a.m. for a very few jobs," Lawrence E. Maguire '58, director of student employment, said yesterday. Maguire added that his office has not worked out the final details of this year's lottery, but they are "looking for the most equitable way" to conduct it.

Lucy Carter, work-study coordinator, said yesterday they will continue to give preference to financial aid students.

Carter agreed that it was ridiculous to have people camping out all night. "Nerves are very high and people get upset," she said. "We think a lottery is a fairly decent way" to distribute jobs, she added.

Attractions of Gambling

Carter said she expects about the same number of people to apply for the jobs this year as last year, but she admitted the lottery may attract more students because those interested will not have to face an early-morning wait.

Anitra S. Fagre '79, who got in line at 4:30 a.m. last year, said yesterday, "Waiting in line wasn't an indication of how much you needed the job," because she said people cut into the line by joining with friends who had gotten there earlier.

Of those contacted yesterday, most students who waited last year welcomed the change. "It will eliminate the hassle of waiting in line," Lawrence D. Mungin '79 said.

Margaret R. Cowperwaithe '79, who worked on the year-end crew last year, said yesterday that regardless of the system used to pick the workers, the job was "not all that pleasant. It was pretty lonely and depressing right after you've gotten through finals."

The new system will eliminate the "ridiculous line-ups," but the old system had advantages--the people who got the jobs were the ones willing to wait in line, William J. Doyle '79, who worked with the pre-Commencement crew last year, said yesterday. Doyle added that one benefit of the new system is that cheating will be eliminated