At this week’s FUSA Senate meeting, Vice President of Student Affairs Mark Reed, and Director of Residence Life Deb Cady, presented and answered questions regarding the current housing situation.
The administrators came at the request of the Senate in a written letter by Senate Chair Tim Rich ’08.
Sen. Dan Lamendola ’09 said the conversation was intended to prompt the administrators to answer questions regarding such situations as the Off-Campus Boarder Lottery and on-campus residential planning.
“Overall, the goal that the University has for student housing remains the same,” said Reed. “We now want to increase the number of beds by 250-350.”
Cady said the reason for the slow progress is because the school is not trying to fix the immediate problem with a “band-aid solution” but is instead trying to provide a long-term solution.
Cady and Reed said that a committee has been formed to examine the current possibilities for a long-term solution. The committee also consists of Dean of Admissions Karen Pellegrino, FUSA President Hutch Williams ’08, RA Katherine Boutros ’08, Vice President of Finance William Lucas and outside consultants.
Sen. Nazar Kamenchenko ’10 brought a question to Reed’s attention as to the amount of University money that the school would use for the project.
Reed said the University will fund the developments by borrowing money, as tuition dollars are allocated for day-to-day operations. The plan estimates $25 million and $60 million, and will take between five and seven years to complete.
“The University would not be going through with [it] if we didn’t have confidence in [the plan],” said Reed.
Sen. Alison MacNeill ’10 asked where the administrators plan to put the additional housing.
Cady said, “A quick and easy solution is to put one in the quad, but we need more upper-level housing.”
Reed also mentioned the possibility of buying off-campus housing space.
Stating that the University supports students who live at the beach, Reed also mentioned a problems, including lease agreement and lack of heating, which have recently come to his attention.
“The landlords have no interest in the school. … They are out there to make money,” said Reed.
He went on to say that the students living off campus are paying way more than the housing space is worth.
Cady said, “Anyone who asks you to sign a lease nine months in advance … then you know something is wrong.”
Reed also said the campus discusses about the housing situation more than he would like.
“It is not that I don’t feel it is important,” he said, “[but] five years from now I would like to be talking about something else.”
The senators unanimously voted to approve the nomination of the following new judges: Fiona Camilleri ’09, Samuel Sica ’09, Denis Walsh ’09 and Christopher Bernard ’09.
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