By Jamie Hsiung
Daily Bruin Reporter
In the week right before finals, 200 students living on campus
have the added stress of moving out or being assigned a new
roommate, according to a letter housing officials sent out this
week.
Students with a vacant spot in their room ““ because
previous roommates moved out ““ have the option of finding a
new roommate, moving into another room with the same contract, or
paying anywhere from $300 to $1,100 more per person to upgrade
their room from a triple to a double or single.
No student input was included in the decision-making process,
said On-Campus Housing Council Chair Adam Harmetz.
“We respect greatly that (the housing administration)
makes a lot of these tough decisions,” Harmetz said.
“But if they don’t go through normal channels of
gathering student input, then we can’t respect
that.”
Housing officials never approached OCHC with the issue and made
the decision last Thursday ““ only after the last Policy
Review Board Meeting, Harmetz said. The PRB consists of students
and administrators who meet regularly to discuss housing
issues.
Foraker said housing officials did not seek student input
because this wasn’t a major policy issue ““ there was no
change in the status of the contract.
“We don’t believe it’s the kind of situation
that is extremely problematic unless someone argues that we
shouldn’t reduce density,” he said.
Students must decide by Friday what living situation they will
choose for next quarter, and those moving out must do so by March
26, Resident Director Russell Davis said to affected students in a
meeting in Bradley Hall Wednesday night.
Because some of the students will end up leaving their room,
those vacated rooms will remain empty, said director of housing
assignments Michael Foraker.
Davis told students at Wednesday’s meeting that the empty
rooms will probably be filled by incoming students who want
housing.
Though entire floors would be affected by this change, all the
resident assistants, resident directors and ORL student and
professional staff whom the Daily Bruin approached said housing
policy restricts them from speaking to the media.
“It is sort of like black-mail … your organization tells
you, point blank, that you have been denied your freedom of speech
or you will be fired,” said an RA who explained that
disclosing her name would result in her getting fired. “As
soon as you speak out against your organization … you put
yourself at risk, essentially, to piss off the hand that feeds
you.”
Davis told students that resident directors were not involved in
the decision-making process.
Harmetz said he was not notified of the decision by housing
officials but by “perturbed students” who approached
him Monday night.
“(Housing Administration) had plenty of time to get
student input, but they didn’t,” he said.
“They have been working on it for a while.”
None of the students at Wednesday’s meeting said they are
happy with the new decision.
Second-year microbiology student Jonathan Fortman said the
decision has posed several problems for him because it was made a
week before finals.
“I would love to make it a single, but I don’t have
the $800 to dish out,” he said. “I don’t think
it’s fair, but they are a business, so this is profit for
them.”
According to Foraker, out of 11 students who stopped by the
housing office Tuesday, eight were “delighted” to move
from a triple to a double, one decided to remain in a single, and
the other two were undecided.
Foraker said he doesn’t think assigning students new
roommates would be a problem either because “students usually
get along.”
But many residents said they are frustrated by the change.
First-year undeclared student Adam Bishop, whose roommate
cancelled his contract last month, said he is angry at the Housing
Administration and is confused with the situation.
Ramzi Mekhail, Bishop’s other roommate, said his mother is
going to call the ORL Office and Housing Administration to complain
so that he can hopefully stay in a double without having to pay
extra.
“Financial aid is supposed to be going toward books and
tuition,” the first-year mathematics student said.
Foraker hopes to have the situation completed by the beginning
of spring quarter.
“We will work with (the students) … we don’t want
to move them in the middle of finals,” he said.
With reports from Rachel Makabi, Daily Bruin Senior Staff.