This fall, residents at every college except Earl Warren and Sixth will be housed at colleges other than their home college. This move will further fragment the student population and continue to erode any college affiliation beyond general education requirements at UCSD. This resident shuffle is endemic of a larger problem with the college system.

The ASUCSD structure — recently analyzed by an A.S. task force — consists of college-based representation. This does not make sense when students’ affiliation with their college exists primarily becuase of where they are housed during their time on campus. If this trend continues, the A.S. Council’s structure must be altered to reflect reality at UCSD: For the most part, if you do not live in a college’s housing complex, you do not feel connected to the college.

How can this disconnect between representation and reality be addressed?

One option is to prioritize housing students, especially freshmen, at their home college. This has proven difficult, as college deans make efforts to guarantee on-campus housing to as many students as possible.

The other option is to examine the representation of student government. Senators claim to “represent” students at their home college, even though most have long ago lost any sense of affiliation with it. The A.S. Council should explore all-campus representation that reflects the true makeup of the student population — which is seldomly linked to college affiliation.