\documentclass[10pt]{article}
\usepackage{times, fullpage}
\title{Preliminary Thoughts on Rush Improvement}
\author{Random Hall MRNSA Task Force}
\begin{document}

\maketitle
\linespread{.9}

\section{What Went Right}
\begin{description}
\item[Midway] Increased space and freedom made midway more fun for
  freshmen and upperclassmen. Dorms should be encouraged to run more
  activities (Outside stuff SUCKED!)
\item[Long dead week] More time to move in, bond with freshmen.
\item[Moving squads] Were a useful incentive to moving freshmen, but
  could have used a lot more organization.
\item[Small group discussions] Discussions after alcohol, date rape,
  etc. talks encouraged actual thought about topics.
\item[Early info for temps] Giving people the address and phone number of
  their temp assignment makes parents happy.
\end{description}

\section{What Went Wrong}
\begin{description}
\item[Playfair] Professional Icebreaker???  Not a single freshmen
  we've talked to thought this was a good idea, and it was right before
  midway, which made frosh less likely to attend Midway. Hanging out with all sorts of interesting
  people during rush will build community much more than Playfair. 
\item[Housing office hours] The housing office should have extended
  hours for several days after lottery results, and especially should be
  open when the results are announced.
\item[RACs didn't see results before frosh] In the past, RACs were
  allowed to check for screw-ups \emph{before} results were announced.
\item[Communication]\hspace{1in}

\begin{itemize}
   \item The tone of administration communication to the freshmen should
   present rooms as temporary (i.e. call it the ``orientation lottery''
   instead of the ``correction lottery'').
   \item Give better worded information about RBA dorms.

 \item Rush Chair should get copies of all material given to freshmen.

 \item There should be an official online forum for frosh to talk to each
  other and upperclassmen (see Section~\ref{sec:othimp})
 \item IFC and Dormcon should discuss how rush will be handled.
\item Dormcon should produce the sheet that they intended to send this
  year.  Information that the administration is not telling the frosh. 
\item Daily Confusion should be put together as a booklet (perhaps run
  by someone other than The Tech?) 
\end{itemize}
\item[Timing]\hspace{1in}

\begin{itemize}
   \item Orientation events should end before Rush.
   \item There should be no other events during Rush.
   \item Rush should be one Contiguous block of at least 48 hours.
   \item RCC meetings should happen after Rush.
     \item Since people will move, having the housemaster brunch before
     frosh move is pointless.
   \item Parents should arrive \emph{after} Rush.

 \end{itemize}


\item[Parents] Inviting the parents right before rush was bad because
  they didn't leave (so frosh were out shopping, parents came to rush
  events, etc.), and parents wanted to see kids settled, so they
  unpacked them, etc.

\item[Tests] There should be fewer tests, none between the beginning of
  Midway and the start of classes, and
  certainly not at 0800.  Frosh
  worrying about their test the next morning will not be looking at
  dorms. It's always possible to take placement tests other times.

\item[Dorm squatting] We probably can't get rid of it, but this was a
  major factor in not making the freshmen move to where they'd be more
  happy.  The ``Orientation Lottery'' should be mandatory for frosh to
  get dorm squatting rights.

\item[Internet access for frosh] Lots of frosh were sitting in their
  rooms surfing the web and IMing.  We should not encourage frosh to get
  connected. 


\item[Video] Our impression is that our video kicked the crap out of
  most other videos, so we got lots of people who weren't necessarily
  right for us.  The way to fix this should be to teach other people how
  to make better videos (as opposed to making ours worse).

\item[Drunk frosh] This was bad because the frosh are thereby prevented
  from making wise  decisions.  We believe that this was due to fraterity parties.
  So we should ask the IFC that they don't have parties during rush (and
  we will not have parties for a few weekends in their rush)



\item[``It would have been better if we had tried to scare off our
  temps''] This seems to be true, as by scaring off people we are sure
  to get people who really want to be here, as opposed to those for whom
   it is convenient to stay.  This is an indication that the system
  has a major problem.  It should not benefit us to be mean to freshmen.

\item[Resentment from upperclassmen] There will be lots of ``you stayed
  so X cool person couldn't move in'' this year.

\end{description}
\hspace{1in}\section{Other Improvements}
\label{sec:othimp}
\begin{description}
\item[Why can't everyone have an early return] Since temp rooms are all
  assigned, why can't all upperclassmen come back?
\item[Official frosh info forum] There was a Yahoo group this year, but
  many frosh didn't know about it, some upperclassmen were providing
  misleading information (and posing as frosh). It really ought to be an
  official MIT thing with certificates, etc.
\item[Let the RACs determine what ``acceptable crowding'' is] Dorms
  should be able to say whether an instance of crowding is a problem or
  not, otherwise  the ``no crowding'' initiative is pointless --- it
  will be nominally satisfied by deeming enough crowdings
  ``acceptable,'' but not actually solve anything.
\item[Encourage people not to hang out with prior friends] Although it may be
  painful/difficult for people to leave behind the people they're
  comfortable with, orientation leaders and upperclassmen should encourage people to try
  to meet new people during rush.
\item[Referral book] We should have a book of \emph{honest} descriptions
  of other dorms so as to be able to give \emph{accurate} information to
  freshmen about other dorms.
\item[Upperclassmen should take frosh to other dorms] This will require
  some rush chair cooperation.
\item[Lottery results ealier in the day] This will allow more time for
  in-dorm room selection.
\end{description}

\end{document}
