Thursday, February 12, 1998
Chancellor addresses issues at town hall meeting
DORMS: Construction is hottest of student concerns at
discussion
By Scot Sargeant
Daily Bruin Contributor
At Tuesday evening’s town hall meeting with the chancellor,
students discovered that some of the problems associated with the
construction at Dykstra are lies.
On Tuesday evening, the On-Campus Housing Council hosted "An
Evening With Chancellor Carnesale," the primary concern being to
allow students, and residents in particular, to air their
concerns.
One of the main concerns of students attending was construction
at Dykstra. Specifically, some students felt that they were being
told lies.
Previously, Dykstra Hall residents had been told by Michael
Foraker, director of housing, and Alan Hanson, director of
residential life, that students have tampered with the hot water
valves, causing a shortage of hot water.
However, some Dykstra residents don’t believe this explanation.
The Office of Residential Life is planning on installing a new hot
water tank, leading students to believe that administrators have
misled them.
"It sounds to me like the problem is not really that someone was
tampering with the tanks, but that there is a problem related to
the construction. I don’t know if that’s too big an assumption to
make, but it leads me to believe that we’re not being told the
truth," said Amy Wood, a second-year sociology student.
Carnesale had Associate Vice Chancellor Sam Morabito answer the
question.
"As far as I know, the hot water tank, nobody tampered with it,"
he said.
"It simply was a construction move. We had to move it from one
location to the next, and there were some problems in doing
that."
The noise, dust and interference caused by construction of the
De Neve Plaza project also drew complaints.
Students expressed concern that the construction was interfering
with their ability to live and study in Dykstra.
"Our living conditions are not up to par with what we think they
should be and (with) other resident halls. We feel that our
contract is being violated," said one student.
Carnesale responded by drawing a parallel to the new technology
fee.
"It is true that not everybody gets the same benefit from the
services," he said. "It’s like saying, should you charge more for
the library for people who use it more, rather than for people who
use it less, and therefore transform everything into user
fees."
He went on to explain that administering differentiated fees end
up costing students more, because it is cheaper to administer
standard fees than it is to monitor variable fees.
"If you were to get a reimbursement, it means that everyone
else’s fees would have to go up," he said.
Carnesale also outlined his goals to transform UCLA from an
excellent institution among public universities, to a great
university with no qualifiers.
"The great preponderance of programs at UCLA are nationally
ranked in the top 10 or better," said Carnesale, referring to
UCLA’s excellent academics.
To reach this goal, he outlined a plan that will focus on
people, programs and resources.
This will include the hiring of a new executive vice chancellor,
a new vice chancellor for budget and finance, and three new deans
for the Anderson, Law, and Theater, Film and Television
Schools.
Carnesale also wants to focus on maintaining student diversity
at UCLA.
"In the wake of Proposition 209 in particular, we’ve been
working very hard to make sure that underrepresented minorities and
all students did not come to feel that they were unwelcome and
unwanted at UCLA," Carnesale said.
The issue of diversity prompted questions concerning the planned
closure of Hershey Hall next year, which hosts a great number of
international students.
Carnesale responded by saying that the investment required to
keep Hershey Hall open as a dormitory did not make financial
sense.
"Given the investment that would be required … it does not
make good financial or policy sense," Carnesale said.
He added that to increase the diversity of UCLA’s residential
halls, it would be preferable to distribute international students
throughout the halls.
KIT TARROZA
Chancellor Albert Carnesale meets with students. Many voiced
concerns about construction, increased fees and diversity at the
open forum.