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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (June 6, 2002)
Census continued from page 5 here is because of the conven ience,” Grover said. But Bell, and many other resi dents, said location is not the only deciding factor. The neighbor hood’s atmosphere is also a major draw. The area is high-density with little space between houses and apartment complexes, adding to the close-knit social atmosphere. At night, some people go from party to party, others bump into friends on the street and make plans like friends would if they lived in a small town. Bell said he’s looking forward to walking half a block to see what his friends are doing on a Friday night — instead of them be ing just a few feet away in another room. He adds that he’ll appreciate the extra control over his privacy. “I’m getting older, and all the freshmen are still 18,” Bell said. When the weather is nice during the day, students relax on porches, balconies and yards, studying or chatting. They sit on rickety plastic furniture, or recliners and couches they purchased at nearby garage sales — or simply claimed from the side of the road after other students moved out and abandoned the furniture. But Grover said the social life is the biggest drawback to her time in the neighborhood, and she’s look ing forward to leaving. “I’m a country girl, so the biggest problem is the traffic,” Grover said. “Both foot and car traffic.” She said she’s had to deal with a number of bizarre invasions of her privacy, including the time she and her two roommates came home last month and found a couple having sex in her garage — or Friday night when a massive party turned into a riot 100 feet from her front door. Franz said the two amorous lovers politely and apologetically left when once she found them, but there was nothing she could do but watch as riots charged and fled up and down her street. Eyster agreed that, regardless of the drawbacks, students are going to want to live as close to campus as possible, and he thinks the West University Neighborhood can ex pand. He said property owners need to take the initiative. The area is high-density and much of the prop erty is old and could be tom down, making way for larger apartment buildings. Eyster said national com panies like the ones that built Duck’s Village and the University Com mons could also renovate the area. “All it would require is for some one to buy the property,” he said. In the meantime, Leavitt said the University is looking at institutional changes it can make that would have an effect on rental rates, such as expansion of LTD express routes to campus. She said there could be unintend ed benefits from University Presi dent Dave Frohnmayer’s May 20 de cision that all Greek houses must achieve higher academic standards and have alcohol and drug free hous ing by December to remain affiliated with the University. She said once Greek houses adhere to Frohnmay er’s new standards, administrators will be more comfortable suggesting the Greek system as a housing op tion, taking some pressure off the rental property in the neighborhood and helping the Greek chapters im prove their recruitment and mem bership, which has been down over the past few years. “I would really like our Greek houses to be at a place we can rec ommend to people who want to live with others but don’t want to live in a full apartment,” she said, adding that many administrators also want to build a new residence hall as soon as possible to house the large incoming freshman classes. Leavitt is part of the 17-member Enrollment Management Council, a group that analyzes enrollment fig ures and makes suggestions for how the school should handle the ebb and flow of students. But so far, the council has focused solely on how the increased student population will affect the availabili ty of classrooms, professor offices and public computer terminals. The group hasn’t said who should work on how enrollment affects housing in the West University Neighbor hood or any part of Eugene. “You have to ask, ‘Is that even part of the institutional mission?”’ said Associate Vice President Jim Buch, the chairman of the committee. Eyster said he wouldn’t be sur prised if other national companies are looking at building more prop erty like Duck’s Village and the University Commons, which would be attractive to some West University residents with the abili ty to commute to campus. Eyster added that he hasn’t heard of any specific companies with their eyes on Eugene, but “I’d be surprised if there aren’t any.” “They can see this bulge or boom just like anybody else,” Leavitt said. E-mail managing editor Jeremy Lang at jeremylang@dailyemerald.com. Bring in books needed for Summer & Fall Terms and well pay you 50% of the current student price - Cash Payment! 3 LOCATIONS EMU June 10-14 F 10:00am-4:00pm M-Th 10:00am-5:00pm Moshofsky Center June 10-14 10:00am-4:00|>m UO Bookstore June 5-15 Regular Store Hours UNIVERSITY of OREGON « BOOKSTORE (541)346-4331 •www.uobookstore.com llllililll Adam Jones Emerald Michael Grey, left, and Aaron Bliznut play a little ‘Urban Frisbee’ in the intersection of 14th and Mill street within the West University Neighborhood. Enrollment jump catches administration by surprise ■The University’s physical facilities may not be able to bear the strain of more than this year’s 20,000 expected students By Jeremy Lang Oregon Daily Emerald Enrollment is expected to sur pass 20,000 students for the first time this fall, a sudden jump that caught many administrators by surprise. A September 2001 report by the 17-member Enrollment Manage ment Council predicted the student population wouldn’t surpass 20,000 until fall 2005. Jim Buch, the council chairman and associate vice president for enrollment man agement, said that when council members submitted their report, they expected enrollment to remain steady between 16,000 and 17,000 — which it had done from 1994 to 2000 — or even drop slightly be cause of a year full of bad press. “In the past 18 months, the Uni versity of Oregon’s image has suf fered from several public contro versies,” the report said. The report cited the secretary of state’s audit of the school, the in vestigation of women’s basketball coach Jody Runge that led to her resignation and the school’s depar ture from the Worker Rights Con sortium factory monitoring group, a decision that led Nike CEO and University alumnus Phil Knight to vow never to donate money to the school again. “These high-profile events have a cumulative effect on public per ception,” the report said. But after a year of football and basketball championships, the Uni versity’s departure from the WRC, Knight’s subsequent return to do nating and a number of research ac complishments by professors, Buch said the school’s public image im proved — at the same time that high school graduating class sizes are increasing. “The flip answer is that every body wants to come here,” Buch said. “There is going to be contin ued growth. There’s going to be continued demand if the Universi ty continues to be an attractive choice.” , . So far, neither the council nor any ojhej- University committee has * officially discussed a cap on enroll ment, Associate Vice President Anne Leavitt said, but she ac knowledged that administrators are aware of the urgency that the 20,000 plateau presents. “The physical facilities (on cam pus) are really not equipped to han dle many more than 20,000,” said Leavitt, who also sits on the enroll ment council. “We have to get to work on this.” University Housing Director Mike Eyster said this isn’t the first time the University has faced a sud den increase in enrollment. In the early 1990s enrollment jumped into the 16,000 student range, and independent rental companies saw an opportunity to expand into the Eugene market. Two companies bought land north of campus near Autzen Stadium to build the Duck’s Village and the University Com mons apartment complexes, join ing the Chase Village complex. Both opened in the late 1990s when enrollment had leveled off and, for a few years, vacancy rates were high there and in the West Univer sity Neighborhood. But those empty apartments are filled now, according to the fall 2001 report by Duncan and Brown, a local company that studies hous ing trends in Eugene “The campus area appears to have recovered from ... four years of high vacancy,” the report said, noting that 2001 was the first time in four years that rents have in creased in the neighborhood. “While the increases (in rent) are few and small, it does indicate a change in the direction of the market. ” University Housing runs the resi dence halls and limited graduate student housing only, but Eyster still keeps an eye on where his resi dents will go when they leave the world of bunk beds and cafeteria meals, and he noticed the vacancy rates starting to fall more than a year ago. “There is no question that enroll ments play a huge role in the va cancy rate in the campus neighbor hood and other student housing,” Eyster wrote to administrators in a December 2000 e-mail. . E-m^iil Managing Editor Je/efny l^ng, ( ,, ■ atjeremylang@d^ily^meralcj.com.. .
