Selling student apartments not in UO's best interest.

Byline: GUEST VIEWPOINT By Garrett McCullough For The Register-Guard

Without warning or previous indication, the University of Oregon administration announced on Oct. 20, 2005, that it intended to sell the Westmoreland Apartments and Childcare Center. After numerous evolving explanations for why the administration wants to complete this sale, community leaders and organizations are still in a state of disbelief and shock about how such a decision could have been made in a closed-door process.

The administration has claimed that it is acting in the best interest of current and future students, but it has in fact based its decisions on a desire to maximize revenue and to serve the needs of young middle- to upper-income students. As a public institution and center of diversity, the UO must keep Westmoreland operational for current and future generations.

When the administration first made its announcement, it said selling Westmoreland would improve on housing options closer to campus and avoid high `potential' maintenance and repair costs. It also claimed students with families lacked a need for housing. Soon afterward, these reasons were publicly found to have little merit. The university's statistics for residents were drastically wrong. Westmoreland's structures were in excellent condition. And the distance from the UO campus is only a short bus ride.

Recently, the administration announced that it now plans to conduct the sale to pay off $10.1 million in debt to the Oregon University System and to buy the vacant Joe Romania property east of campus. By taking these actions, the administration expects to be able to start constructing a new dormitory in two years.

Although the administration has made a new plan for the sale proceeds, it has not clarified how it will help mitigate the effects on students - effects ranging from the loss of a child care center to the loss of the school's largest and most affordable student housing community. Based on the current availability of housing and child care, it is impossible for the administration to guarantee tenants replacement housing or child care unless other students and children are pushed out. Furthermore, all possible replacement housing is much more expensive than Westmoreland, and child care services would be at a far greater distance.

Everyone understands that building new dormitories is necessary for the university, but selling Westmoreland to do so is the worst choice. The rent collected from Westmoreland residents already contributes approximately $700,000 to the university each year.

In addition to its financial contributions, Westmoreland makes a huge contribution to the diversity and education of our community. By providing safe and affordable housing, Westmoreland attracts many talented and diligent students from developing countries, students with children, and students who can barely afford the cost of higher education.

Without a doubt, if Westmoreland is sold, a large number of these current and future students will be put into the horrible position of deciding whether to buy less food, live in dilapidated housing, transfer or quit school altogether.

How can the administration say it is acting in the best interest of current and future students when it didn't ask for any input before making this major decision? Furthermore, the task force on housing and financial assistance for affected Westmoreland residents hasn't even had a meeting for the past 3 1/2 months.

Community leaders and organizations - including six state legislators, the UO Faculty Senate, the Associated Students of the UO, the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation, the ASUO Student Senate, the Service Employees International Union, and the UO Multicultural Center - understand that selling Westmoreland is not in the best interest of the university.

Please join us in our struggle to keep the university accessible to the broadest possible range of current and future students.

Garrett McCullough is vice-chairman of the Westmoreland Tenants Council. He prepared this column with the council's assistance.