The Circle

Issue date: 2/1/07 Section: Features

It doesn't matter how long it is before we have to submit the names of those we hope to live with next year: once priority points are given out, the game begins. Who am I with now, who has to go, and who needs to be separated from their friends so they can join my group? Start with your own total. Are you the Benoit type, or Fulton? You need to have an idea of where you have fallen. How much more do you like the person who has 22 points as opposed to the kid down the hall with 27? Because remember, they can always visit you.

For freshmen, it's usually your current roommate, people on your floor, or the kids who found out that you have 35 points that you live with next year. For me, it was a case of finding two lucky individuals with 32 or more points to boost our solid four into Benoit range. Andrew Rosenblum and his 34 points are the reason my roommate and I chose the first room in Benoit - a room with a scenic view. Some call it breathtaking, I call it home.

I received 22 points my first time around. That's what happens when you receive only 1 point for discipline. After cleaning up my act, and becoming more active around campus I made the "jump" to the 30-point plateau. For a guy, I'm in comfortable place with a solid 30 to my name. Although it never hurts to find a Rosenblum to boost your average, the only rule is that everyone in the group must be true to such person. It is their home too. With a single open in Midrise, Andrew was kept from being part of the Benoit experience.

Now there are some people who, no matter how low their points may be, you chose them to be in your group because they're your friends. But there are others … others who you were never really THAT close to. People who you could literally, "live without." As of right now I have some ideas going through my mind. I'm in Survivor mode; I am building alliances, outwitting other students, because like in the reality show, we all want to make the merge.

The worst part of the whole process is the awkwardness of avoiding those who don't make the cut. Especially the following year when you're walking past them in the rotunda, heading to your nice room in Midrise, knowing they have a cold walk home to Gregory. It's a numbers game, and while the cafeteria is a place with unlimited space, residential areas are not so accommodating. Priority points are everything, when they shouldn't be. Sorry Matty, maybe next year.

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