Monday, June 29, 1998
Dorm, sweet dorm
HOUSING: Crowded dining areas, renovated housing and
construction add flavor to living on campus
By Mason Stockstill
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
The dorms are home to the majority of UCLA’s freshmen – as well
as many unresolved complaints.
Last year, dorm residents dealt with several inconveniences in
the way of construction, overcrowding and facilities. These
problems have affected thousands of students in all residence
halls.
Mira Hershey Hall
Hershey Hall used to be a residence hall. Go even further back,
and it was an all-female dorm, built with monies willed to the
university by Mira Hershey, heir to the Hershey chocolate
empire.
Upon her death in 1930, Hershey’s will revealed that she had
left $300,000 to UCLA for the construction of an all-female
residence hall.
The hall, which has in recent years been home to graduate
students, transfer students, international students and students
with disabilities, became co-ed in 1969.
But in June, all of the student residents had to move out, and
preparations began to transform Hershey Hall into an administrative
office building.
"It will be a valuable asset for a campus pressed for space,"
said Charles "Duke" Oakley, campus architect and assistant vice
chancellor of capital programs.
Students who were displaced by Hershey’s closure were given the
option of living in off-campus university apartments or other
residence halls.
Former Graduate Students Association President Andrew Westall
spoke at length with campus administrators over Hershey’s impending
closure and alternative housing situations for graduate students,
but was left with a discouraged feeling.
"How would other donors feel if they thought that UCLA wouldn’t
respect their wishes for their donations," he asked, "since Mira
Hershey’s wishes are clearly not being fulfilled by this?"
De Neve Plaza
De Neve Plaza includes housing for 850 students, a small cafe in
which students can eat and socialize, parking and a large outdoor
courtyard with trees, benches and basketball courts.
It also hasn’t been built yet.
The plaza has been under construction since October of last year
and isn’t slated to open until September 1999.
All the construction bothered some of the students who lived in
Dykstra Hall, which is mere inches away from De Neve Plaza’s future
site.
"I don’t think that we were fairly warned of exactly how much
construction was going to happen, and I don’t think we’re getting
fair compensation for what we’re going through," said Tammy Low,
publicity chair for last year’s Dykstra Hall Residents’
Association.
Two town hall style meetings were held last year for Dykstra
residents to express their concerns to administrators, and students
took advantage of these meetings to complain about Dykstra’s lack
of a cafeteria, hot water, basketball courts, parking spaces, music
practice rooms, study lounge, computer lab and mailboxes.
The construction also caused a portion of Circle Drive West to
be closed for a few months, but it reopened in April, and officials
say that no more roads will be closed for construction.
Dining Halls
For many students, the convenience of having your food handed to
you every day is a big factor in deciding whether or not to live in
the residence halls.
In fact, renovations were performed on the cafeterias of two of
the high-rise buildings – Hedrick and Rieber halls – during the
past two years. The new cafeterias sport a flashy decentralized
layout and, many students believe, better food.
However, the other two high-rise dorms – Dykstra and Sproul
halls – don’t currently have cafeterias. Dykstra’s went out with
the start of construction on De Neve Plaza, and Sproul’s was so
unpopular that it was shut down completely.
"The loss of our own dining facility is inconvenient because now
we have no choice but to go to other dorms to eat," said Chris
Yamada, a first-year business economics student who lived in Sproul
last year.
Aside from Rieber and Hedrick, the only dining facilities
remaining are the cafe in the Tom Bradley International Students
Center and Sunset dining.
Sunset is set to be renovated over the summer, and should be
completed in time for fall, housing administrators said.
When De Neve Plaza opens in September 1999, it will have new
facilities for student dining. However, until then, students will
have to make due with the facilities that are now open.