When students with approved housing accommodations began the pre-draw process for housing in the 2025–26 academic year, they were met with a surprise change: they could no longer select a “drawmate,” another student allowed to draw into the same room or a room nearby their accommodation.
Students can receive housing accommodations for “diagnosed disabilities,” including physical and mental impairments that cause “a material functional deficit,” according to an Office of Disability Services (ODS) webpage. Receiving accommodations requires paperwork from a doctor proving that a student meets this criteria.
According to an archived version of an ODS webpage, in previous years, students with approved accommodations were permitted to have a pre-drawmate who would be placed in the same room or near the student with accommodations. The pre-drawmate did not need to have approved accommodations to pre-draw and was the only way for students with accommodations to indicate preferences for which people live around them.
This change was not announced prior to the beginning of the housing accommodations process on Dec. 15, 2024, although the change was mentioned in a FAQ on the ODS webpage. Students noticed the change when there was no longer an option to select a drawmate in the application for pre-draw.
“Whenever we all found out, obviously people were really upset,” August Roberts ’25, who has disability accommodations, said in an interview with The Daily Princetonian.
“I didn’t even notice because I’m a senior, so I heard [about this change] from other people … lo and behold, [the ability to select a pre-draw mate] wasn’t there,” they continued.
Roberts submitted a guest contribution to the ‘Prince’ about this change.
Trace Zhang ’26 was helping a friend navigate pre-draw when they realized that it was no longer possible to select a pre-draw mate. It took several steps to get clarity on the change.
“We were following up with whether or not the roommate situation would be respected,” Zhang said.
“And the answer was, we are not respecting roommate requests or people you’d be comfortable living with,” Zhang continued.
On Feb. 4, the Housing and Real Estate Services and ODS emailed a joint statement informing students with approved housing accommodations that they were no longer allowed to “bring a draw-mate.” The email was followed by a webinar explaining the changes the next day.
In the email obtained by the ‘Prince,’ both departments informed students that the change was made due to a combination of factors, including an increase in the number of students participating in the pre-draw process and the fact that “most housing accommodations involve requests for single rooms with air conditioning, which are already in short supply.” As a result, the email claimed that the addition of drawmates made it “even more difficult to meet the needs of all students requiring housing accommodations.”
ODS referred to University spokesperson Jennifer Morrill when asked why the changes were made. “Without the implementation of the change the University runs the risk of being unable to meet the needs of students requiring housing accommodations,” Morrill wrote.
The email sent to students also included a section which said that if they “require a caregiver’s presence” for aid in navigating their medical needs, they should contact ODS to request one rather than “relying on others within the residential community.” Jennifer provided a statement to the ‘Prince’ using the same language when asked about what students should do if they wanted a roommate.
Roberts took issue with this response to students with accommodations concerns.
“[The email was] basically saying that if you have a roommate that helps you out sometimes, you might as well have a full time caregiver, which is unrealistic, not what we need, invasive, and expensive,” they said.
Other students were concerned about the possibility of being placed in a single room with a shared bathroom, or a “Jack and Jill,” to share with a stranger. The ODS webpage also states that pre-draw participants can be assigned rooms that are singles or doubles.
“It’s really just a black box of where they’re going to be putting people; who they’re going to be put with,” Zhang continued.
When asked about whether students with accommodations would be placed with random roommates, Morrill wrote that “the vast majority of ODS-issued accommodations approvals are for single sleeping spaces,” but did not provide further clarity as to how students placed in Jack and Jills would be paired.
The University’s recommendation for students with disability housing accommodations hoping to live near their friends is to “encourage others to draw rooms that are near their accommodation housing assignment,” Morrill wrote.
Students who wish to pursue pre-draw have until Feb. 21 to finalize their applications, with contracts being offered on Feb. 27.
Vitus Larrieu is a senior News writer for the ‘Prince.’ He is from Pensacola, Fla. and typically covers community activism, national higher education, and construction and architecture.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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