The Graduate Students Association criticized UCLA Housing’s decision to convert Weyburn Terrace into undergraduate housing, alleging a lack of input from graduate students.
UCLA Housing is converting Weyburn Terrace into undergraduate housing over the next three years, it announced in a Jan. 14 email to residents. The change will allow the university to fulfill its four-year undergraduate and two-year transfer housing guarantee, UCLA Housing added in the email.
The conversion will help UCLA address long-term campus enrollment and housing needs, UCLA Housing said in the email. The university acquired three properties in Mar Vista, which will serve as alternative housing options for students, it added in a Jan. 14 follow-up email.
All graduate students must move out of Weyburn Terrace by July 1, 2027, UCLA Housing said in the follow-up email.
[Related: UCLA to turn Weyburn Terrace from graduate to undergraduate housing]
Jane Nguyen, a first-year medical student, said she was disappointed to be relocated to a university apartment in Culver City because of its distance from UCLA’s campus.
“Given the fact that I’m still going to be on campus doing pre-clinicals up until halfway through my second year, I think it makes it pretty inconvenient for me,” Nguyen said.
A UCLA Housing spokesperson said in an emailed statement that they are working with campus partners to provide transportation information to Weyburn Terrace residents who have been relocated. GSA and the university both seek to ensure graduate student housing eligibility, avoid mid-contract displacement and minimize disruption during the transition, the spokesperson added.
“UCLA recognizes that housing costs and commuting remain significant concerns for graduate students in Los Angeles,” the spokesperson said. “University-owned graduate housing is designed to remain below comparable market rates while providing stable access and the support of a campus-managed community.”
Naomi Hammonds, GSA’s president, said she believes UCLA Housing did not consider graduate students’ perspectives when making the change. UCLA Housing informed GSA about its decision to change Weyburn into undergraduate housing in December, she added.
“The grad voice is just not being heard and not being taken into account,” Hammonds, a graduate student in public health, said. “As grad students, we teach undergrads, we do research with undergrads, we do a lot to keep this university afloat and we just feel like we aren’t being considered in the conversation.”
GSA passed a resolution in February condemning UCLA Housing’s decision to turn Weyburn Terrace into undergraduate housing. The resolution aimed to raise awareness about the graduate students’ concerns, many of whom relied on university housing while planning their finances, degree timelines and moving to LA, Hammonds said.
UCLA plans to relocate graduate students to pod-style co-living arrangements, with some units consisting of four to six bedrooms, GSA said in the February resolution. Weyburn Terrace includes studio apartments, two-bedroom apartments and two-bedroom townhouses, according to UCLA Housing’s website.
The university’s lack of communication about housing has impacted some prospective graduate students’ decisions to enroll at UCLA, GSA added in the resolution.
GSA is continuing its conversation with UCLA Housing and advocating for graduate students affected by the transition, Hammonds said.
“Some folks, even in our forum meeting, expressed that they’re in the lab until 2 a.m. working on their research and doing those projects,” Hammonds said. “It made it very easy – living in Weyburn – to at least walk back to your home, back to your apartment. Now, having to add in a commute to a different building would definitely disrupt folks in there.”
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