Housing problems need real solution

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Construction workers broke ground on the hill in 1997, and
administrators promised us they’d finish in 1999. But after
many broken promises, we are entering January of 2002, and the same
administrators in charge of the De Neve housing project are telling
us we’ll have to wait longer.

Students folded up into residence hall study lounges with hopes
of getting out over winter break can kiss their wishes goodbye.
Despite opening four of the intended six buildings that compose De
Neve Plaza last year, the remaining two buildings, the 830-seat
dining hall and the 450-seat auditorium that were supposed to be
completed by winter quarter will not be available and a new
completion date has not been set.

It’s unacceptable for students to live in triples, let
alone in up-to-six-person study lounges. People need space to live
and conduct their business with a reasonable expectation of
privacy. Lounge residents have none, and because of their presence,
their fellow students have lost the use of convenient study and
recreational space.

With the influx of 60,000 Tidal Wave II students coming into the
UC, the university must find solutions to the housing crisis
immediately. If it can’t deal with its current student
population, how will it sustain thousands more?

The long-term answer is that the university can no longer
guarantee on-campus housing to non-first-year students. It should
instead explore off-campus options for upperclassmen, including the
possibility of contracting with apartment owners in Westwood and
surrounding UCLA communities. This will allow the university to
provide freshmen, and many sophomores, the much needed on-campus
experience, while not leaving others out to dry.

Admittedly, restricting future housing to freshman will do
nothing for current students waiting for their beds in De Neve. In
fact, the only thing De Neve may change for these students is an
increase in their fees when it finally opens. Right now they are
being charged the price of a double room, $8,359, and if they move
to De Neve to get out of their lounges they will be charged the
difference in the cost of a double in the residence halls and one
in De Neve, almost $2,000.

These students should not have to pay a single cent to move to
the new complex.

These students have been lied to by the university and tossed
into lounges to live because the school itself couldn’t
provide the housing it promised them. They’ve been charged
for a double room when living in worse-than-triple conditions. If
any money is to be exchanged, the Office of Residential Life should
rebate the students it has disserviced.

The ORL can take the rebate money from the stipends of the
ineffective programming assistants and paid residence hall
government positions. There’s no reason why students
can’t plan their own trip to Magic Mountain or buy their own
ice cream for finals week. While these programs are helpful, they
are nonessential. Resident assistants can fill these roles with the
help of students who volunteer for their floor government.

The housing problem is not going away, and the longer De Neve
sits on the hill unfinished and uninhabited, the longer students
and their quality of life suffer. If they have to bring in their
own hammer and nails, connect the pipes, and drive the inspectors
here themselves, the university must get the job done.