As the daunting prospects of next year’s housing dominate campus conversation, a majority of sophomores have been cast adrift by the Office of Residential Living’s new study abroad housing policy for the 2015-2016 academic year, for which deadlines have already passed.

Students studying abroad in the fall will be excluded from the housing lottery this spring, and upon return, are not guaranteed housing on campus according to a Residential Living press release.

Junior year is the year many students live with friends as well as host social events.

Ending housing reservation, which was previously a gentleman’s agreement outside the administration anyway, poses a serious problem to current sophomores looking or planning to study abroad.

Rising juniors have been left directionless. If the Office of Residential Living expects students to accept this policy going forward and aims to quell the resentment many feel toward the office and this change, it is of absolute importance that the administration provide a clearer picture of exactly how the new policy will affect students and how they can navigate this policy.

We implore the Office of Residential Living to listen and empathize with students’ concerns and provide examples or at least some increased direction on how the new system will work and how students will be placed upon their return to campus.

It is certainly the least Residential Living can do given the punishing change in policy and the tension-filled housing politics that currently engulf Georgetown’s campus.