Housing works to end use of study lounges as dorm rooms

By Jamie Hsiung
Daily Bruin Contributor

Students will be able to do what the name says to do ““
study and lounge ““ in resident hall study lounges next year,
if the On Campus Housing Council finds the right answer.

The OCHC has been brainstorming possible solutions with housing
officials and the Undergraduate Students Association Council for
the past quarter to ensure that the future of study lounges
won’t involve students living in them.

“We’re very confident that if we think of viable
solutions, students could be moving out of study lounges next
year,” said OCHC Chair Adam Harmetz, adding that OCHC
isn’t ready to list possible solutions.

Ross Idemoto, a third-year psychology student living in a
Hedrick study lounge, said there were both positive and negative
aspects to the situation.

“While we do have a lot of space, there’s really no
privacy,” he said. “If De Neve were to open right this
instant, I would choose to move out.”

USAC has proposed increasing the number of triples in residence
halls to increase revenue. The university wouldn’t need to
pay for new housing structures or rooms, said USAC President Karren
Lane. Instead, money for the extra bed, desk and chair would come
from the students.

“Housing would benefit from the extra revenue ““
there could be more floor kitchens, for example,” Lane
said.

“Not having permanent housing affects student performance,
and it also impacts the students living on the floor,” she
continued.

Even students who don’t live in study lounges find the
situation problematic.

“I think every student that lives in the resident hall has
a right to a study lounge,” said Julie Tung, a first-year
biochemistry student living in Hedrick Hall. “It’s a
benefit that I don’t have.”

Likewise, resident advisors and program assistants are forced to
hold their activities elsewhere, both Harmetz and Foraker said.

Kristie Wang, a second-year art student living in Hedrick Hall,
said though she “really loved” the study loungers on
her floor, residents now have more space.

“We had to hold our pizza parties on the couches by the
elevators, and a few of the people complained that we were too
noisy,” Wang said.

“A lot of the residents are really energetic at night, but
they didn’t have a place to sit and socialize,” she
said.

According to Jack Gibbons, associate director for the Office of
Residential Life, most of those living in study lounges are
transfer students.

With that in mind, university housing purchased two more
apartments on Gayley Avenue to house 200 students in May and
December of 2001. Gayley Towers and Westwood Palms will be assigned
to transfer students only, he said.

“Students living in university apartments this year will
be asked to leave next year so that transfer students will have
housing,” Gibbons said.

All these measures will provide more spaces for UCLA students,
he said.

Though students have occupied study lounges for the past five
years, they have always vacated them by the end of fall quarter,
said Michael Foraker, director of Housing and Hospitality
Services.

Until this year, that is.

“This is the first time I’ve ever seen people still
in the study lounges right now,” Foraker said.

Because De Neve Plaza hadn’t opened winter quarter as
housing officials had expected, 102 students are still living in 25
study lounges, Gibbons said.

Originally, the 254 students placed in study lounges were placed
by appeal, Harmetz said. Appeals could be based on anything from
late housing bill payments to paperwork mishaps. Either way, the
student could end up as a lounger until space opens, Harmetz
said.

The university guarantees housing to freshmen and returning
second-year students, as well as first-year transfer students. The
shortage of space could be for several factors.

In previous years, Foraker said, 55 percent of second-year
students returned, compared to the 70 percent return rate of the
past three to four years.

“The number of students coming to UCLA is increasing, and
an interest in returning generates more demand for housing,”
Foraker said. “This causes an increase in triple rooms,
making housing very dense.”

OCHC can be reached at [email protected]