By Rachel Makabi
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Students weren’t the only ones caught off guard last month
by housing officials’ consolidation policy, which required
students living in rooms with vacancies to upgrade their contract,
move to a new room or accept a new roommate.
The policy unexpectedly created new vacancies when students
chose new roommates already living in fully-occupied rooms, thereby
leaving those rooms with empty spaces, said On Campus Housing
Council Chair Adam Harmetz.
Students, including some on the OCHC, fumed when officials made
the decision after the last Policy Review Board meeting of winter
quarter without student input. PRB consists of students and
administrators who meet regularly to discuss housing issues, but
the students on the board do not have the power to implement
policies, Harmetz said.
Michael Foraker, housing director of Business and Administration
Services, said housing officials did not expect the policy to
create more vacancies or such a strong student reaction, adding
that “there is no more consolidating this year.”
As consolidation ends ““ nearly a month after its
implementation ““ six students ended up moving out, 157
upgraded their contracts and 27 new students moved in, Foraker
said.
Some students were originally upset with the decision, Foraker
said , but “the greater majority” were happy with the
results.
Harmetz, however, said most students were unhappy with the
decision, adding that the OCHC has written a formal letter to
housing officials stating that student opinion of the plan was
negative overall.
One such student is John Lonacker, a first-year physics student,
who had one of his two roommates leave earlier this year.
“I don’t think that after this much time getting to
know someone and becoming friends it was really fair for them to
say, “˜Too bad, you guys could get broken up if you
don’t have the money to pay for an upgrade,'” he
said.
In response to growing student concerns for more representation
in policy decisions, the OCHC asked for more active student
involvement in housing decisions and will request to form a
subcommittee with students and housing officials.
“If there was active student involvement, this probably
never would have happened,” Harmetz said. “The PRB is
not active student involvement … it is different from actually
being on the board and implementing policy.”
Foraker said he could not comment directly on OCHC’s
proposal until he saw it, but said that generally speaking, he
would welcome student input.
Students usually have input in decisions like this, he
continued, but this year was an anomaly because of the late opening
of De Neve Plaza, which created a lot of empty space throughout the
campus residence halls. Housing originally planned to open De Neve
by the beginning of winter quarter, but was not able to until a
month ago because of numerous delays.
“Having gone through this, we would endeavor to make sure
that the student leadership is better informed on the front end and
more of their input is reached on the front of the process,”
Foraker said.
Housing used to implement the consolidation policy every spring
when graduate students were living in Hershey Hall in the 1980s,
Foraker said.
The lack of vacancies in on-campus residence halls in the past
few years prevented them from implementing the policy until the
opening of De Neve Plaza last month.