SAN FRANCISCO “”mdash; The University of California Board of
Regents approved budget plans to build three new residence halls at
UCLA last week.
According to the Executive Summary of the action, the new
buildings included in the Northwest Campus undergraduate Student
Housing Plan, North Hedrick, North Rieber and West Rieber will
provide 1,987 new student beds. The project will also renovate the
first floors of Hedrick, Rieber and Sproul residence halls. The
plan is estimated to cost over $197 million.
Housing fees are expected to increase at higher rates under the
plan. For fiscal year 2002-03, the construction will add 4.5
percent to a projected 3.0 percent increase in housing fees. The
fee hikes will be spread over five years.
Though current students expect the new buildings to help future
Bruins, they are less excited about more construction and higher
fees.
“If I think about future students, it would be best …
(but) all that construction is really going to be a hassle,”
said Hannah Chang, a second-year undeclared student living in
Sproul.
Higher fees would also be a problem, she added.
To make room for the new structures, the Housing Administration
Building and parking lots HH and RH will be demolished.
The preliminary plan, approved by the regents in March, included
a new parking structure near Dykstra Hall, but this item will not
be voted on until a later meeting.
UCLA’s residence halls are crowded ““ several rooms
designed to accommodate two students house three. Over the past
five years, the low supply of campus housing has required some
students to accept temporary quarters in study lounges rather than
dorm rooms.
But these measures have not been enough to meet the demand for
on-campus housing. In Fall 2001, there was a shortage of 733 beds
for upper division undergraduates.
The new buildings, scheduled to be completed in 2005 will not
meet projected housing demand, though anticipated shortages are
lower than current levels. Estimates place housing shortfalls
during the 2006-07 academic year at 298 beds. Without the projects,
the projected shortfall is 1,866 beds.
Though the board did not extensively discuss housing at UCLA
specifically, regents affirmed student housing system-wide as an
important UC priority.
“I, for one, would like to see 100 percent of students
housed,” said regent George Marcus.
In addition to student needs, community relations also factored
into the board’s talks on housing.
“We have communities that will not allow our campuses to
grow … if we do not solve our housing problem,” said regent
Judith Hopkinson.
In Westwood, local residents face heavier traffic as housing
shortages force more and more students to drive or take the bus to
school.
“We prefer students on campus so that the commuting is
down,” said Sandy Brown, of the Holmby-Westwood Homeowners
Association.
For residents, traffic is a larger inconvenience than
construction, which is “always a problem,” she
said.
The last residential construction project, De Neve Plaza, was
completed last April, three years behind schedule.