We determined that only a few criteria applied to everyone and so would be considered as part of the basic allocation algorithm. Other concerns could be addressed as part of number two below. Salary, age, rank and seniority were considered at length. We dismissed salary as being too heavily weighted toward faculty and against classified staff. Nor does it reflect the values of the college as a criterion to be used to allocate a scarce campus resource like parking.
Age is egalitarian, easy to implement and has been a primary criterion for many years.
While it doesn't specifically reward longer service to the college, it does approximate it. It is also easy to implement. Seniority proved to be more difficult to quantify than was apparent at the start. Due to seniority being a widely accepted value in our society, we considered running a simulation of a priority allocation scheme that included seniority, but were unable to, due to the difficulty of getting reliable information. Reliable years of service data may become available, at which time it might be raised as an alternative criteria, but until that time, we do not feel it's feasible.