Robbie Short

Students who participated in the final lottery to transfer to Pauli Murray and Benjamin Franklin colleges were informed of their college assignments on Tuesday, bringing the transfer process for the new colleges to an end.

The final lottery — for which applications closed on Feb. 10 — added 49 more students to Murray, and 43 more students to Benjamin Franklin, according to college administrators. It is possible that not all of the additional students whose applications were approved will ultimately transfer, because they still have to participate in the final room draw for the new colleges on March 6. Still, the heads and deans of Murray and Franklin said they are thrilled that the founding classes of the two colleges are almost in place.

“It looks like we’ll have at least 200 upperclass students in the college next year,” said Head of Benjamin Franklin College Charles Bailyn ’81. “That’s just about perfect. I think, while we aren’t full to capacity, we’ll definitely have a strong active community.”

In December, 507 rising sophomores, juniors and seniors secured rooms in Yale’s two new residential communities, with 243 placed in Benjamin Franklin and 264 in Murray. Of the total 507 students offered spots in the new colleges, 360 students entered the room draw -— with 177 students assigned rooms in Murray and 183 in Benjamin Franklin.

Head of Pauli Murray College Tina Lu said that with the transfer process complete, she is eager to get to know her students as well as start the “real work of community-building.”

The final lottery in February followed two initial lotteries held in December. While the December lotteries were specifically for students intending to live in Murray and Benjamin Franklin colleges, the February lottery was part of the regular transfer process across all 14 residential colleges.

Additionally, students who participated in the initial lotteries were not able to choose between Murray and Benjamin Franklin in their transfer applications. But, for the February lottery, students were able to voice a preference between the two colleges. According to Murray Dean Alexander Rosas, college administrators were able to honor the preferences in “almost all cases.”

Yale College Dean Jonathan Holloway previously told the News that college administrators were never concerned about filling the colleges to capacity. If no one had expressed a desire to transfer to Murray and Benjamin Franklin, he said, annexed students like the ones in Swing Space would have been moved to the Prospect Street facilities.

However, Holloway said he is thrilled with the number of people who ultimately opted to transfer.

Despite student criticism about the University’s decision to select Benjamin Franklin as one of the college’s namesakes — which Holloway said initially raised some concern — Murray and Benjamin Franklin will have around the same number of people in their founding classes.

“There had been a lingering concern until December when we saw the numbers interested in the transfer, because of the fraught political train about Murray versus Franklin,” Holloway said. “The fact that Murray and Franklin kind of look the same, that is exactly what we wanted to have happen, what we needed to have happen. So that, I’m really happy about.”

Members of the class of 2021 will be sorted randomly into one of the 14 residential colleges.

ZAINAB HAMID