Experimental windowless dormitory project at UCSB

[Hibush]

There is a follow-up article in CHE:
https://www.chronicle.com/article/why-a-california-campus-bursting-at-the-seams-indulged-an-eccentric-donor
- apparently UCSB is to be sued by the town of Goleta (apparently UCSB is not in actual Santa-Barbara) for failing to fulfill its promise to build enough dorms and for breaking through an enrollment ceiling it agreed to adhere to

The governor and trustees forced the university to accept more students than that agreement allowed, so for sure campus leadership is in a tight spot.

To the issue of the building itself, a student on the planning committee raised the question of evacuation of the 4500 residents during every fire alarm: "Consider how many times the smoke alarm will go off when you acknowledge how much cannabis UCSB students smoke."

[Wahoo Redux]

There is a follow-up article in CHE:
https://www.chronicle.com/article/why-a-california-campus-bursting-at-the-seams-indulged-an-eccentric-donor
- apparently UCSB is to be sued by the town of Goleta (apparently UCSB is not in actual Santa-Barbara) for failing to fulfill its promise to build enough dorms and for breaking through an enrollment ceiling it agreed to adhere to

The governor and trustees forced the university to accept more students than that agreement allowed, so for sure campus leadership is in a tight spot.

To the issue of the building itself, a student on the planning committee raised the question of evacuation of the 4500 residents during every fire alarm: "Consider how many times the smoke alarm will go off when you acknowledge how much cannabis UCSB students smoke."

The world's biggest hot box.

[Hibush]

There is a follow-up article in CHE:
https://www.chronicle.com/article/why-a-california-campus-bursting-at-the-seams-indulged-an-eccentric-donor
- apparently UCSB is to be sued by the town of Goleta (apparently UCSB is not in actual Santa-Barbara) for failing to fulfill its promise to build enough dorms and for breaking through an enrollment ceiling it agreed to adhere to

The governor and trustees forced the university to accept more students than that agreement allowed, so for sure campus leadership is in a tight spot.

To the issue of the building itself, a student on the planning committee raised the question of evacuation of the 4500 residents during every fire alarm: "Consider how many times the smoke alarm will go off when you acknowledge how much cannabis UCSB students smoke."

The world's biggest hot box.

Someone should mention that to Charlie Munger!

[mleok]

The governor and trustees forced the university to accept more students than that agreement allowed, so for sure campus leadership is in a tight spot.

Yes, the enrollment for UC campuses with space to build and accommodate more students is increasing at a breakneck pace due to pressures from the state.

[ciao_yall]

The governor and trustees forced the university to accept more students than that agreement allowed, so for sure campus leadership is in a tight spot.

Yes, the enrollment for UC campuses with space to build and accommodate more students is increasing at a breakneck pace due to pressures from the state.

Been an issue for years at UC. Many freshpeeps are ripped off from their first year experiences because the UC's are happy to admit students but can't be bothered to build dorms to house them.

[Parasaurolophus]

We admit students, take their money, and then once they've moved here and started paying the exorbitant rent, it "turns out" we don't have classes for them.

We are building a new dorm, though. With windows. It will replace a dog kennel.

[marshwiggle]

The governor and trustees forced the university to accept more students than that agreement allowed, so for sure campus leadership is in a tight spot.

Yes, the enrollment for UC campuses with space to build and accommodate more students is increasing at a breakneck pace due to pressures from the state.

Been an issue for years at UC. Many freshpeeps are ripped off from their first year experiences because the UC's are happy to admit students but can't be bothered to build dorms to house them.

If they know whether they can live on-campus or not before they accept an offer of admission, then they have a choice to make. If they only get told after they accept an offer that they can't live on campus, then they're getting "ripped off", (or at least misled.)

Not everyone will want to live on-campus. To them, they explicitly don't want some of those "first year experiences".

[apl68]

The R1 where I used to work was notorious in the 1990s for admitting so many freshman students that they had to "house" some of them in dorm lobbies.  I was acquainted with one of these.  He didn't seem to mind too much.  At least the dorm had windows.

[Durchlässigkeitsbeiwert]

If they know whether they can live on-campus or not before they accept an offer of admission, then they have a choice to make. If they only get told after they accept an offer that they can't live on campus, then they're getting "ripped off", (or at least misled.)

Not everyone will want to live on-campus. To them, they explicitly don't want some of those "first year experiences".

It looks like there is a lottery for continuing students in UCSB.
So,
- it is not about "ripping off from from their first year experiences" (whatever it is)
- I would say being left to find a place in a very constrained hosing market after investing a year of time, tuition, living expenses is much closer to my definition if being ripped off

[mamselle]

The R1 where I used to work was notorious in the 1990s for admitting so many freshman students that they had to "house" some of them in dorm lobbies.  I was acquainted with one of these.  He didn't seem to mind too much.  At least the dorm had windows.

My first adjunct job came up when a rather large school's new admissions software erroneously generated 600 additional acceptance letters to new froshpersons...

By the next year, the spiffy, new, glass-clad dorm was ready for them, but that first year, the school bought up leases from every single apartment in the area that they could find (in competition with four other nearby schools), to be able to provide (and, I suspect, charge for) housing themselves.

I believe all were fenestrated....

Not sure how the food supply thing worked out; maybe by then they had the bright, shiny "cash cards" ready to accept local fast-food payments as well; there were manymany of those...

Until the bubble in the pipe went down, about their junior year, the place was good for up to three adjunct classes a year, for which I was most heartily glad.

M.

[Puget]

Most public universities don't have on-campus housing for all students-- it's expected that many will live off campus, and many do prefer it. However, in very high CoL areas with limited affordable rental stock this can be a problem, not only for the students but for families who are displaced from the rental market because landlords can charge more per room for students sharing a place, and students will generally tolerate much poorer maintenance.

[marshwiggle]

Most public universities don't have on-campus housing for all students-- it's expected that many will live off campus, and many do prefer it. However, in very high CoL areas with limited affordable rental stock this can be a problem, not only for the students but for families who are displaced from the rental market because landlords can charge more per room for students sharing a place, and students will generally tolerate much poorer maintenance.

As long as they have sufficient housing for all of the first year students that want it, it's not too bad. For out-of-town students, they can scope out off-campus housing during first year when they're in town. Being able to move into a place sight-unseen is most useful when they've never been there before.

[mamselle]

And then there are the folks who buy their kids a condo to live in for all the time they're in the school....and then the next kid goes there, and the next....and after that they either turn it into an Air BnB or sell it at a profit--or run it as external landlords themselves.

Or sometimes, the kids stay there, go to grad school, and get a job in the area, after which they (probably) buy their folks out.

Diff'rent strokes...

M.

[Anselm]

A windowless room is one of the reasons why human rights activists consider our modern solitary confinement prison cells to be a form of torture.  The Florence ADX federal prison has windows but they face the sky.