As many of you probably know, there was a fire in a Jameson 3rd floor room Monday night at around 7:00 p.m. Rumor is that it started when a lit candle caught a curtain, but we’re not here to speculate about that. Though no one was hurt, the fire, of course, has affected many more students than just the resident(s) of that room. A couple of hours after firefighters had put out the blaze, Res Life sent out an email telling students from the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd floors of Jameson to “relocate for the evening.” According to the same email, students had an opportunity to grab their things and prepare for one of numerous slumber parties throughout the rest of Keeney that night.

Until earlier today, however, students were still unsure when they would be back in their rooms. According to a second email sent out this evening, people on the 1st and 2nd floors would be allowed back into their room on Friday, April 26 once necessary repairs were complete. They had until 9 p.m. tonight to pick up whatever they needed. Those who live on the 3rd floor would be back in their rooms by Monday, April 29. Res Life has offered students “temporary housing” – if they aren’t down for a longterm sleepover at a friend’s, in which case they can still pick up an extra mattress – and has gone the extra mile to send students a list of instructions for making property damage claims for damaged belongings (check after the jump).

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So, you got stuck with a shitty housing lottery number? When you inform your friends of your fate, they probably start using scary words like “Summer Assignment” and “Perkins.” Some people have even told you that they’re thinking of sharing a lounge with random people. While that’s all good and terrifying, we’re here to offer some more creative possibilities for housing accommodations next year if your worst case scenario ends up becoming your reality.

The microscopic gap between City Sports and Kinkos right off Thayer:

Hey, Providence fire department says it’s small, but we think it’s cozy! And you can’t beat the location – you’re basically on Thayer. Does Bajas accept FlexPoints?

Leung Family Gallery: The sub-free, quiet dorm option for summer assignment!

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ResLife recommends you study hundreds of floor plans. Because that is the level of insanity the lottery requires.

This is an incredibly important PSA reminding everyone that lottery applications are due this Friday, March 22 at noon. Do not miss this deadline! If you do, you and your tragic housing group will be automatically entered in the Summer Housing Process. ResLife provides a step-by-step account of that process, but it can be summarized as being officially fucked over for housing. So again, submit your housing lottery application by FRIDAY!

As you’ve probably heard, there have been significant changes to the housing options available for rising sophomores, who are now part of a separate lottery from rising juniors and seniors. As you have also probably heard, no one actually seems to know how exactly this will affect the lottery; some will tell you the Class of 2016 has been saved from the brutality that would have been, while others offer the opinion that they have been royally screwed over (Perkins as a sophomore, anyone?). It doesn’t help that ResLife is intent on sending out very confusing emails and maintaining several different webpages that offer different sets of information. Example: the initial lottery information email told students to check the “front desk in North Wayland” to verify their semester levels. Um, ResLife has been located in Grad Center E since the beginning of this school year. You would think that they would know…

We do our best to provide useful lottery information and links after the jump:

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On Wednesday, New Dorm residents received this email:

This isn’t your garden variety case of urine misplacement. Some individual, or group of individuals, has gone to extreme lengths here. In their quest to avoid the toilet, they’ve gone straight for the trash can and followed a more…indirect route. Also, the culprit has hit both New Dorm A and B. This isn’t some drunken prank; it’s a systematic attack.

From the beginning, M-Lo made clear the severity of the issue at hand.  He raises two important points: this behavior is unhealthy, and it raises concerns about the student responsible for it. We feel your concern Marc, but let’s not forget about the intrigue. It’s not every day we have a serial pee-er on our hands. Good luck, New Dormers. Stay dry safe.

For a long time, students have been wondering exactly what the dorm options will be for the 2013 housing lottery. On Wednesday, ResCouncil posted a list of all the changes. We’ve broken them down for you in an easy-to-digest map:

Note: Greek and program houses located in sophomore communities will still be open to juniors and seniors.

A year ago, the University announced a sweeping plan for renovating and reorganizing campus housing. We won’t recap the details of that, but there are some important differences between that plan and the new one: Perkins will be sophomore doubles, not junior/senior singles, and Slater and Hegeman will be for juniors and seniors, not sophomores. Read more here.

Image via.

It’s during the depths of winter that the temperature of our dorm rooms never seems to reach a comfortable medium; instead, it only seems to fall on polar opposite sides on a scale that has “Inferno” on one end and “Arctic Circle” on the other. This afternoon, ResLife sent out a comprehensive and aesthetically pleasing graphic that outlines five different ways to “stay cozy this winter.” Would we have loved to see this a few weeks ago when the temperature plummeted to a mere 7 degrees? Sure, but we’re not complaining. We only have a few more weeks until spring, but in the meantime, these tips will make all the difference.

Additionally, if you live on Wriston or in Keeney, you also should have received a handy dandy chart that teaches you how to use the new environmentally conscious toilets with the pretty green handles. ResLife is (literally) lifehacking left and right, respectively. Stay warm!

Last week, we learned that Brown came in at #2 in Trojan’s annual Sexual Health Report Card, just behind University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. We Brunonians clearly love sex. And that’s great! But I fear with SPG and Consent Day behind us, Brown students will not have another opportunity to be handed a free condom until Sex Week in the Spring. And that’s SCARY.

So where does a Brown student go when in search of safer sex supplies?  To answer this question, I had intended to do a bit of sleuthing, but in actuality did not have to go very far. I just went down the hall to my friendly, neighborhood RPL’s door! From what I understand, most of Brown’s RPLs (Residential Peer Leaders) supply safer sex materials on their doors: the freshman Residential Counselors (RCs), Woman Peer Counselors (WPCs), and Minority Peer Counselors (MPCs), as well as the upperclassman Community Assistants (CAs). A lot of acronyms, ResLife. Seriously.

So, to honor our near victory at college sexual health and the RPLs who (occasionally) restock their safer sex supplies, I have decided to highlight the items that RPLs put on their doors, from the standard lubricated and non-lubricated condoms, to the more specialty items such as dental dams, flavored condoms, and lubricant. RPLs often differ in the items they give out, and receive a lot of questions and confusion about some of the items on their doors. So to clear some of this up, here is a guide to the RPL’s door:

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Many former Keeney residents were shocked when they returned to campus to find that the building received a major facelift. But this summer’s changes hardly end there.

Today’s Herald featured a spread that breaks down all of this and next summer’s housing changes, which aim to create a more uniform progression of housing from freshman to senior year. Since we’ve already given you a photo tour of the new Keeney, we now bring you inside some of the other renovated dorms.

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This changes everything.

Living in Keeney has been known to have its advantages and disadvantages. For a long time, Keeney Quadrangle has been defined as a hub of activity due to its large concentration of freshmen first-years (+).  Keeney was also defined by the condition of its interior: not so great (-). The furniture was old, the bathrooms were gross, and kitchen and lounge space was scarce.

As part of a larger plan for dorm renovations, Keeney is being renovated in two phases. The first phase, which occurred this summer, overhauled and reconfigured student rooms and created new “magnet lounges” (with fancy kitchens!) on the top floors. Next summer, the bathrooms and hallways will be renovated, elevator installation will be completed, and the building will be split into three separate sections. Check out BlogDailyHerald’s tour of the new and improved Keeney after the jump.

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At long last, ResCouncil has released the list of group priority numbers for the 2011 housing lottery! Find out your number at the ResCouncil website.  Let the plotting begin…