F r o n t   L i n e International Exile by Kevin Noble With the new school year kicking into gear, a fresh crop of first-year students are learning about the U.Va.-engineered "first-year experience." This is where incoming students are placed into first-year-only housing to foster a common bond and to create an opportunity for students facing similar problems to interact closely with one another. Unfortunately, this opportunity is not extended to all students equally. Due to limited availability of first-year housing spaces, every year the university must place some incoming students in non-first-year areas. The housing division first assigns excess students to Hereford College, then to triples in the Alderman Road dorms. The Housing Division assigns all students "in the order in which the university receives the Admission deposit." This year 127 first-year students were placed in Hereford College. A large number of these students were international students. One international host (international hosts are provided to all international students by the International Center) reported that five out of six of her hostees were living in Hereford College. The large number of international students placed in Hereford is not a random occurrence. Since housing assignments are based upon when the university receives your admission deposit, the longer it takes to return the deposit (let's say by your letter traveling halfway around the globe while being handled by a few different countries' postal companies and crossing an ocean or two), the higher chance there is that you will be placed a non-first-year housing arrangement. Leaving home to go to college is daunting as it is. To make it even more difficult, add a few thousand miles of distance between you and your home, phone calls home in the neighborhood of two dollars a minute, and the likelihood that instead of only a few students from your high school coming to U.Va. this year, only a few students from your country will come to U.Va ever. The last thing that should happen to these students is for things to be made even more difficult because, by no fault of their own, they are living apart from other first-years who are taking many of the same classes and facing many of the same problems. International students are not intentionally placed away from first years and into Hereford College; rather it is an indirect occurrence due to the housing system being inadvertently weighted against international students. And it is not that living in Hereford is a bad thing, or negatively affects your academic potential. However, living in Hereford does take away from the traditional first-year experience, and when that happens to a specific group, even when it is unintentional, it is necessary to re-examine procedures to make sure they and their results are as fair as possible. For their part, the Housing Division has recognized that students placed in non-first-year housing are not receiving the same first-year experience, and as compensation for all first years placed in non-traditional first-year housing areas, they are entered into Phase II of the housing allocation process which almost ensures that they will receive their first choice in housing for their second year. Additionally, Dean Parke Muth (the Dean of Admissions for International Students) has acknowledged the disadvantage international students face and has plans to send out international offers of admission earlier than domestic offers this year (last year offers were sent to international students four days before domestic students). However, a complete reexamination of policies and procedures by both the Admissions office and the Housing Division may be necessary in order to place international students on an equal footing with domestic students for the allocation of first-year housing. One hopes this will take place and international students will be treated the same as all other incoming first years.

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