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UCSC Students Petition Admin Over Inadequate Housing and to Oppose Upper Campus Expansion
A petition has been started by students at UC Santa Cruz calling for Chancellor George Blumenthal to take the necessary steps to provide adequate housing and transportation on the campus. "After this first week of Fall Quarter 2014 it is clear that the housing and transportation systems of UC Santa Cruz are inadequate for the volume of students needing access to campus," the petition states. The petition is asking for UCSC to improve its relationship with the local area and the City of Santa Cruz, stating, "the University must utilize and increase their community relationships to help students find affordable housing. Many students are sleeping on couches, living in hotels, and are paying exorbitant rents for dilapidated or crowded housing." The petition also calls out the university's plans for expansion, stating, "we also believe that building into Upper Campus is NOT an adequate solution to this problem and will only add to the over-enrollment issue."
Via Change.org:
Petitioning George Blumenthal
Provide Adequate Infrastructure for the Students of UC Santa Cruz
After this first week of Fall Quarter 2014 it is clear that the housing and transportation systems of UC Santa Cruz are inadequate for the volume of students needing access to campus. Campus enrollment is the highest it has ever been and it is negatively impacting the amount of resources available for students. The University has an obligation to provide and advocate for these services at a reasonable cost.
-- If on-campus housing is full, the University must utilize and increase their community relationships to help students find affordable housing. Many students are sleeping on couches, living in hotels, and are paying exorbitant rents for dilapidated or crowded housing.
Instability in a student's living situation directly affects their ability to focus, study, and do well at our amazing school.
We also believe that building into Upper Campus is NOT an adequate solution to this problem and will only add to the over-enrollment issue.
-- The Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District is a huge asset for students, and it is unacceptable that students are unable to access efficient transportation to campus. Buses are routinely full before they reach the Laurel & Blackburn stop, leaving dozens of students at subsequent stops stranded and unable to get to class on time.
The University and the TAPS department must communicate with the SCMTD to increase the amount of city buses available during peak times. Other steps the University must take include:
- Increase funding to TAPS for more loop buses during peak hours
- Advocate for programs like Lyft or Uber for students who need to be on campus for late-night activities
- Increase the amount and frequency of bike shuttles
- Collaborate with on-campus groups for increased bike safety workshops
- Increase promotion of the Bike Library program (http://bikelibrary.weebly.com/)
It is a wonderful thing that UCSC is building a more diverse community committed to research and learning. However, failure to address these basic infrastructure needs will force students to drop classes, and many more people than that will hold the University in poor regard -- both of which will result in decreased future enrollment. Please address these issues as soon as possible so our entire student body can feel safe and secure in their basic needs, allowing increased productivity and increased banana slug pride.
Sign the petition:
https://www.change.org/p/george-blumenthal-provide-adequate-infrastructure-for-the-students-of-uc-santa-cruz
Petitioning George Blumenthal
Provide Adequate Infrastructure for the Students of UC Santa Cruz
After this first week of Fall Quarter 2014 it is clear that the housing and transportation systems of UC Santa Cruz are inadequate for the volume of students needing access to campus. Campus enrollment is the highest it has ever been and it is negatively impacting the amount of resources available for students. The University has an obligation to provide and advocate for these services at a reasonable cost.
-- If on-campus housing is full, the University must utilize and increase their community relationships to help students find affordable housing. Many students are sleeping on couches, living in hotels, and are paying exorbitant rents for dilapidated or crowded housing.
Instability in a student's living situation directly affects their ability to focus, study, and do well at our amazing school.
We also believe that building into Upper Campus is NOT an adequate solution to this problem and will only add to the over-enrollment issue.
-- The Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District is a huge asset for students, and it is unacceptable that students are unable to access efficient transportation to campus. Buses are routinely full before they reach the Laurel & Blackburn stop, leaving dozens of students at subsequent stops stranded and unable to get to class on time.
The University and the TAPS department must communicate with the SCMTD to increase the amount of city buses available during peak times. Other steps the University must take include:
- Increase funding to TAPS for more loop buses during peak hours
- Advocate for programs like Lyft or Uber for students who need to be on campus for late-night activities
- Increase the amount and frequency of bike shuttles
- Collaborate with on-campus groups for increased bike safety workshops
- Increase promotion of the Bike Library program (http://bikelibrary.weebly.com/)
It is a wonderful thing that UCSC is building a more diverse community committed to research and learning. However, failure to address these basic infrastructure needs will force students to drop classes, and many more people than that will hold the University in poor regard -- both of which will result in decreased future enrollment. Please address these issues as soon as possible so our entire student body can feel safe and secure in their basic needs, allowing increased productivity and increased banana slug pride.
Sign the petition:
https://www.change.org/p/george-blumenthal-provide-adequate-infrastructure-for-the-students-of-uc-santa-cruz
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UCSC students should recognize that the lack of affordable housing in town is a crisis created by successive Santa Cruz city councils who UCSC students helped to elect. They choked supply by restricting the land on which affordable housing could be built, while demand increased as UCSC enrollment increased and more people moved to Santa Cruz. For over thirty years they have been attracting wealthy homeowners to Santa Cruz, while ignoring the pressing needs of renters: students, the elderly, the disabled and the working poor.
UCSC students should recognize their interests interconnect with these other groups, to establish an electoral coalition with them. Students must begin — in solidarity with the poor, the elderly and the disabled — to elect local politicians who serve renters' interests over the interests of landlords and wealthy developers.
UCSC students should recognize their interests interconnect with these other groups, to establish an electoral coalition with them. Students must begin — in solidarity with the poor, the elderly and the disabled — to elect local politicians who serve renters' interests over the interests of landlords and wealthy developers.
"As an alumni of UCSC, former staff, and current grad student, I've seen the university grow from a small dedicated liberal arts university with a commitment to environmental protection (campus guides still tell proud stories about Dean McHenry saving specific redwood trees) to a profit-center university obsessed with growth and recognition with little regard for its natural heritage beyond how it appears on brochures. It is time to recognize that the resources available to UCSC (water, space, housing) are limited and scale appropriately."
For more information:
http://www.change.org/p/george-blumenthal-...
Regarding the shuttles, every year they are crowded at the beginning of the year as new students haven't figured out the fastest ways around campus and ride the shuttles even where it doesn't make sense. I wouldn't be surprised if the crowding eases off in a week or so.
Housing is expensive in Santa Cruz. There is a certain irony that the students on one hand complain about lack of adequate housing, but don't want the university to build more.
Housing is expensive in Santa Cruz. There is a certain irony that the students on one hand complain about lack of adequate housing, but don't want the university to build more.
When was the last time you rode the shuttles or buses at UCSC, Retiree? There is overcrowding on them all year long.
Nowhere in the petition does it call for a moratorium on building new housing. The petition points out that the University's plans to expand into the Upper Campus should not be trusted, and could actually make the housing situation worse for students.
How about the University reduce enrollment?
How about the University expand off campus, in either the Downtown or on the Westside? There are major pluses for the entire Santa Cruz community if that were to happen.
Nowhere in the petition does it call for a moratorium on building new housing. The petition points out that the University's plans to expand into the Upper Campus should not be trusted, and could actually make the housing situation worse for students.
How about the University reduce enrollment?
How about the University expand off campus, in either the Downtown or on the Westside? There are major pluses for the entire Santa Cruz community if that were to happen.
I think you're avoiding the reality of the situation and the hard decisions that need to be made. IMO, the only proposal you've made that is actually possible is to decrease enrollment.
Move housing into the downtown or Westside sounds good, but it also sounds fake to me . Where, exactly? There is nearly full density of developable lots within the City Limits. I'd like to know where you would propose to build, either on campus or off, the same 1,250 beds that are included in the College 11 and 12 proposal.
Your reply is appreciated. Seriously. I think an honest discussion about the limited choices and hard decisions is fruitful discourse. But I don't think that "just build it somewhere else" is either of those.
Move housing into the downtown or Westside sounds good, but it also sounds fake to me . Where, exactly? There is nearly full density of developable lots within the City Limits. I'd like to know where you would propose to build, either on campus or off, the same 1,250 beds that are included in the College 11 and 12 proposal.
Your reply is appreciated. Seriously. I think an honest discussion about the limited choices and hard decisions is fruitful discourse. But I don't think that "just build it somewhere else" is either of those.
forget about ucsc limiting enrollment on its own, you might as well ask them to take a pay cut, it is just not going to happen. they are going to ignore you unless you can cost them money. start a national publicity campaign drawing attention to how bad it is here for students. you have the power to drive down enrollments on your own through such a campaign.
transfer to other universities, and aid others in doing the same.
if you are really feeling radical, start picketing local merchants downtown. your pressure on them will lead them to pressure the ucsc.
transfer to other universities, and aid others in doing the same.
if you are really feeling radical, start picketing local merchants downtown. your pressure on them will lead them to pressure the ucsc.
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