Brown students will have the chance to earn the prized first overall pick in this year's housing lottery in a Feb. 13 talent show, Residential Council announced Wednesday. The show, hosted by ResCouncil, takes the place of recent contests that allowed students to submit videos, essays or songs pleading their cases for the first pick to the student body, which voted to determine the winner.
"One of the central ideas behind the first-pick competition is to be an advertisement for the lottery," said Alexander Dean '08, ResCouncil chair. The talent show will feature booths with representatives from ResCouncil, Greek houses and program houses to help educate students.
The change in format is not unprecedented. The first-pick competition has taken many forms in the past, Dean said. Historically it has been a talent competition of some sort, and before the switch to the online contest ResCouncil hosted a lip-synching competition. Michael Morgenstern '08, ResCouncil's lottery chair, said that one of Brown's dance groups won that competition every year, prompting a change.
This year's change is due partly to a decline in student interest in the online competition, Morgenstern said. The first year of that contest format drew many entrants and much enthusiasm, but last year ResCouncil received only seven submissions, he added. Videos dominated the competition, he said, and students often skipped over the written entries.
Morgenstern said the talent show will feature "celebrity" judges and a raffle prize for those who attend the event, both of which are as of yet unannounced. He said he was confident that what ResCouncil plans for the show will excite newcomers to the lottery process. Morgenstern said ResCouncil wants at least half of the freshman class to come to the talent show.
ResCouncil will also be generous in its definition of talent, Morgenstern said, and will allow unorthodox entries such as works of art and videos for students who didn't anticipate the change.
Eugene Nelson '11 said he was more concerned about the quality of the show. "Sounds like a good idea," he said. "It depends on the talent."
