Construction on graduate housing may suffer delay

By Jamie Hsiung
Daily Bruin Reporter

Graduate student commuters may not see relief anytime soon if
housing construction is delayed as anticipated by housing
officials.

Phase Two of the construction of a new housing facility on
Veteran and Weyburn Ave., to house 2,000 graduate students on the
site of medical facility Warren Hall, is supposed to begin by Fall
2005.

But since Warren Hall might remain standing until the end of the
decade due to “medically related reasons,” construction
might need to be delayed as well, said Michael Foraker, director of
housing.

Foraker was unable to provide the specifics as to what the
“medically related reasons” were.

Housing officials are currently investigating other options.

“On an interim basis, the campus is reviewing alternative
locations for Phase Two housing,” Foraker said.

The delay in Phase Two construction could affect graduate
students’ decisions to choose UCLA after their acceptance
letters, said assistant vice chancellor Jim Turner.

“The major reason why some of the best students apply (to
UCLA) but don’t come is the lack of housing,” Turner
said.

According to Turner, the average graduate student lives 12 miles
from campus ““ few students live in Westwood and Santa Monica
because of the high cost of housing.

Ricardo Molina, a first-year medical school student who lives in
Palms, said the cost of living off campus has “burned a hole
in his wallet.”

“I have to pay $700 a month off campus, $300 more than if
I was living on campus,” he said.

Although there are off-campus apartments for graduate students
located in the Mar Vista area, some graduate students like Molin
still find themselves forced to live elsewhere.

“We’ve never had 2,000 graduates in one
place,” Turner said.

He pointed out that more graduate students from different fields
of study would be able to interact with each other if they were on
campus more often.

“Interactions with faculty and social activities are
diminished,” he said.

In order to have more graduate students living on campus, the
housing administration anticipates implementing a limit as to how
long students can live there.

According to Foraker, it will be comparable to the undergraduate
housing policy ““ they intend to guarantee housing for all new
and single graduate students.

Historically, graduate students who live on university owned and
operated housing have stayed for an average of three years.

“There’s not enough room for students to stay for
all the years,” Foraker said. “We want UCLA to remain
competitive.”

In spite of the possible delay, Phase One, which consists of the
design process, getting the appropriate bid, and building space for
1,375 occupancies and parking, is on schedule and construction
should begin by fall of 2002.