Dykstra Hall renovation postponed until new De Neve buildings are finished next year
By molly montgomery
May 8, 2011 11:41 p.m.
Renovation of Dykstra Hall will be postponed until the new De Neve buildings are ready, opening up 980 housing spots for incoming first-years.
The new buildings, Holly and Gardenia, will open sometime during the next academic year, said Frank Montana, construction mitigator for the Office of Residential Life.
They were not scheduled to open so soon, but the contractors were asked to speed up construction, he said.
When Holly and Gardenia do open, students living in Dykstra will move into them. This will likely be a mid-year change, Montana said.
Although Dykstra was scheduled to close for renovations in June, UCLA Housing Services and the ORL chose to keep it open because there are more incoming first-years than expected, said Sarah Quinn, associate director of Housing Services. Out of 6,042 admitted first-years who matriculated for the next school year, 5,992 applied for housing, she said.
Because first-years are guaranteed housing and most first-years choose to live in on-campus housing, UCLA needed to find a place to house these students. Keeping Dykstra open was the most convenient solution, Montana said.
Dykstra will house primarily first-years because most continuing students have already chosen their housing for next year, Montana said. There also may be some spots for transfers and for students who are not guaranteed housing, he said.
The Office of Residential Life will select resident assistants for Dykstra from the RA alternate pool, said Dana Pysz, assistant director of ORL. Incoming first-years assigned to Dykstra will have a chance to be student leaders next year, he said.
Some incoming first-years were surprised to find they had been placed in Dykstra.
“I was confused because everyone had told me Dykstra was going to be closed,” said Benson Ku, an incoming mechanical engineering student from Cerritos High School.
Ku was offered a double room in Dykstra and said he intends to accept his housing offer.
At first, Ku was disappointed that he was placed in the oldest building, but he grew excited after hearing from current students that Dykstra is known for being social, he said.
Still, moving during the middle of the year might be a hassle, he added.
Julia Tang, another incoming first-year student who will be living in Dykstra, said she is excited for the move.
“We’re going from the oldest dorms to the newest, prettiest dorms,” said Tang, currently a senior at Gunn High School who will be a physiological science student.
The adjustment to the new buildings should not be difficult because they have a similar layout as Dykstra, Montana said. Holly and Gardenia will also have communal bathrooms and rooms directly facing each other. But unlike Dykstra, they will have air conditioning, tackable walls and new furnishings.
