As parents of a rising junior with a reasonably low housing selection number, 1,166, out of a range of numbers from 1,000-1,999, we are registering our outrage over the flagrant mismanagement and extremely poor planning on the part of the Community Living and Learning Center with regard to the student housing lottery process.

When we agreed to pay GW in excess of $33,000 a year in tuition, housing and fees, we were assured that as a student moved up in class rankings, their housing options would become more readily guaranteed. GW has not fulfilled that promise nor even come close addressing this issue in a satisfactory manner. Our daughter, along with hundreds of other students, stood around waiting for over three hours only to be told that there were no more rooms available after the number 1,010. What a fiasco! She was told to fill out a form for guaranteed housing or to request her $300 be refunded, which is a totally unacceptable alternative. Will we be given the opportunity to withhold tuition because we were unable to count the number of dollars available in our accounts to pay our obligations? I seriously think not.

This situation is outrageous and borders on institutional and fiscal mismanagement of the worst kind especially in the face of continued increases in tuition and fees. What is going on here? Who is in charge? What kind of planning is this? What is going to be done? The integrity of the University, its board of trustees, its president and the entire administration is on the line.

-Richard and Sylvia LaPan