E-mail results in confusion, false rumors
Falsified message claims housing restructuring
By Karen Duryea
Daily Bruin Contributor
On Campus Housing officials are currently conducting an
investigation into a falsified e-mail that generated rumors and
confusion among many dorm residents last week.
The e-mail, sent from a false address, was forwarded to several
UCLA students through Bruin OnLine. It claimed that Business
Enterprises plans to house 500 more freshmen on campus next year
despite housing’s already crowded conditions.
The e-mail also claimed that Business Enterprises would
accommodate this overflow of students by converting 500 double
resident rooms into triples, and that 500 returning residents would
be turned away despite the housing office’s guarantees.
Business Enterprises has denied that there will be any change in
the policy. Currently, students are guaranteed on-campus housing
for their first two years, provided that they submit their housing
application before the deadlines.
Michael Foraker, director of Housing Administration, explained
that the undergraduate admissions office actually anticipates an
approximate 50-student drop in enrollment next year, which would
lessen the number of new students applying for on-campus
housing.
Confusion surrounding the false e-mail was not entirely
unjustified; officials explained that miscommunication at a Jan. 18
Policy Review Board Meeting contributed to the
misunderstanding.
"Unclear information from the Policy Review Board was
misrepresented in an e-mail sent by an unknown student," said Jack
Gibbons, associate director of the Office of Residential Life.
Gibbons, with the intention of soliciting student input,
informed students at the meeting of on-campus housing’s desire to
solve future problems of housing demand.
One of the solutions Gibbons presented for their consideration
was to convert more rooms into triples and "therefore decrease the
number of students without housing," he said.
The e-mail also stated that a UC Regents decision had caused
Business Enterprises to make changes – also a rumor, Gibbons
maintained.
"We anticipate that more (returning students) are going to apply
next year." Gibbons said. For this reason, Gibbons and other
officials are searching for ways to house as many students as
possible while still adhering to housing’s guarantees.
Following the Policy Review Board meeting, student
representatives from the dorm and suite complexes took the
information back to their constituents .
"The person got their information from me," said Mike Bourdaa,
external vice president of Sproul Hall. However, Bourdaa claimed
that the alleged e-mail forger had misinterpreted the information
that he gave at Sproul’s residents’ association meeting on Jan.
22.
"This is something I’m extremely angry about," Bourdaa said
about the misunderstandings. His name was placed on the e-mail
without his consent as a contact for students concerned about this
decision. He claims he received between 30 to 40 e-mails from
students, but has not read them to see whether students took the
e-mail seriously or recognized that it was forged.
A few days later, the dorms’ student representatives were called
to meet with Michael Foraker and Alan Hanson of Business
Enterprises. The officials claimed that there was no significant
overflow of freshmen and completely denied the e-mail’s
allegations.
"I’m confused, and we’re going to take this one step at a time,"
Bourdaa said.
No information is available about the originator of the false
e-mail due to an on-campus housing confidentiality policy.
"We’re following the normal judicial process that we would with
any on campus housing violation," said Steve Nygaard, resident
director of Sproul Hall.Comments to
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