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Housing: Land acquisition process debated
Continued from page 1
generating revenue to pay off the
debt,” Eyster said, “but in recent years,
the debt pool was used more to reno
vate existing beds, which didn’t gener
ate any revenue.”
Williams said it became clear to him
and Eyster several years ago that “we
were headed for disaster if you in
creased your body denseness without
increasing your revenue, and that’s ex
actly what happened.” They worked
with OUS to get the pool capped as
soon as possible, Williams said.
“The consolidated debt pool princi
ple is a very sensible thing to do, but
once it started being used for modern
ization, then it began to place a burden
on other institutions,” Williams said.
Eyster said he agrees with the con
solidated debt pool’s founding prin
ciple, but said he questions the fair
ness of requiring University Housing
to pay into the pool through 2027 at
a rate based on occupancy rather
than the amount of debt acquired,
particularly when residence halls are
in such poor condition.
If the $20 per occupant fee did not
have to be paid into the emergency re
serve fund, Eyster said, the money
could be put to use immediately to
help renovate the direly outdated halls.
“We’re at the point where if I want
to build another building 1 can’t raise
the rates sufficiently to do that, or I be
lieve I start to affect enrollment at the
University and occupancy in the resi
dence halls,” Eyster said. “It won’t do
us any good to have new residence
halls if nobody can afford to live in
them, the rates are so high.”
Eyster said while the Living Learn
ing Center will be a cherished addition
to the housing inventory, it doesn’t do
anything to improve the condition of
buildings already in existence. A re
duction in payments to the consolidat
ed debt pool or monetary compensa
tion for the slew of land acquisitions
student housing money has financed
over the years would, Eyster said.
Williams served as director of hous
ing from 1981-83 and said he under
stands auxiliary enterprises and the fi
nancial hardships they often face.
“Having worked on both sides of
the issue, I’m very sympathetic for the
responsibilities and challenges our
auxiliary directors have, yet there are
times, because they are part of the Uni
versity, they have to make some com
promises,” Williams said.
Land acquisition arm
Past and present housing officials
say housing’s role as the real estate ac
quisition arm of the University has put
it in a financial situation that makes
updating the residence halls very diffi
cult and requires compensation.
University officials say they are not
legally obligated to provide or even ca
pable of giving such compensation.
Barnhart said the University’s use of
student housing fees never seemed un
fair during his time with housing but
said compensation for land bought
with student money then converted to
other purposes is only fair.
“I suppose you can justify a lot of it.
... The University needed the expan
sion room so maybe it really wasn’t
completely unfair to attack some of the
University auxiliaries,” Barnhart said.
“That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be
compensated justly for any land.”
Ramey said Barnhart left housing
in a solid financial state that made
payment into the consolidated debt
pool and upkeep of the east campus
houses possible.
Ramey said she sees the presence of
the indirect overhead assessment as
the biggest problem with the Universi
ty’s policies toward housing. She said
another pressing problem is the ad
ministration’s tendency to see housing
as a land acquisition arm that requires
no monetary compensation when
property purchased with student fees
is used for other purposes.
Ramey said this issue is exempli
fied in the University’s refusal to
compensate housing for money
spent on the Riverfront Research
Park property. Three parcels of land
purchased with housing fees in the
1960s were converted to be used for
the Riverfront Research Park in the
1980s (ODE March 30, “University
Land Repayment Plans Ques
tioned”). A compensation plan was
worked out but has been revised af
ter the University’s legal counsel
ruled no financial compensation
was legally mandated. Eyster has
written about the ruling in the Uni
versity Housing annual reports for
several years.
“Although the east campus proper
ty was purchased with funds gener
ated by students living in University
Housing, it is unclear whether or not
University Housing funds will be re
imbursed any of the purchase price
for this property as it is developed for
other university uses,” Eyster wrote
in the 2003-04 annual report, pub
lished April 11.
Eyster said the fact that the value of
the Riverfront Research Park property
will not be repaid to housing is an ex
ample of what’s happening with the
east campus properties acquired
through housing funds that may be
used for other University purposes.
The group of administrators charged
with handling the transition of man
agement in the east campus neighbor
hood has not decided whether mone
tary compensation will be given to
housing. Eyster said the legal ruling is
a sign that continuing to pay for up
keep of non-student housing proper
ties may not be the best use of student
housing money.
Most of the homes in the neighbor
hood are vintage homes; one has been
empty for about two years because of
the presence of peeling lead paint.
Eyster said it is too costly to fix the
house using student money if there’s
no assurance it will be repaid when the
property is converted to a different use.
“It changes the way in which we
manage the property,” Eyster said.
“If I abate the lead paint for $20,000
there’s no way that I can assure to
my clientele, students, that their
money has been well spent because
within a month of abating that lead
paint this building might be convert
ed to use for some other purpose,
and the students in housing who
paid for that would get no reim
bursement for that 10-year
investment or 20-year investment.”
Williams said he doesn't feel hous
ing has been victimized by being
charged with the management of
houses and said important issues,
such as how the property will be
managed in the future, are being
worked out administratively.
Williams said just because property
was purchased with housing funds for
housing purposes does not mean the
University can’t use it for something
else if necessary.
“I don’t think that’s an intention put
into concrete, I mean, clearly, at least
in my 20 years here, we always knew
that was the University’s inventory of
land to grow, not necessarily solely for
residencies,” Williams said.
Eyster said monetary compensation
for the east campus properties and the
Riverfront Research Park land would
not be such a pressing issue if hous
ing’s financial state was better and the
residence halls weren’t gracing the top
ranks of the Princeton Review’s
“dorms like dungeons.”
Williams said housing has benefit
ed immensely from the east campus
properties and questioned the need
to repay housing for land from which
it has possibly drawn revenue over
the years.
“I suspect over time the department
collected more revenue than the hous
es initially cost,” Williams said. “They
set their rental rates at a level that cov
ered their costs. Those houses have
been paid for years ago.”
Eyster said the cost of maintaining
vintage homes is high enough that
some residence halls fees were used in
the east campus neighborhood, mak
ing it all the more necessary that hous
ing be compensated if the properties
are converted to other uses.
“Benefits that are for the purpose of
the entire University ought to be paid
for by the entire University, not a select
group of students in the residence
halls,” Eyster said. “I would view the
goal of expanding the University’s
boundaries to be a valid goal for the
University to have. The question I
would have is: Is it appropriate for that
goal to be financed by 20 percent of the
student body?”
Barnnart said power politics is a
huge part of issues such as rededica
tion and land repayment.
“You’ve got to look at it from the
University standpoint — who’s call
ing the shots at the University,” Barn
hart said.
Eyster said Barnhart will always be
hailed as an outstanding steward for
the students in housing but that times
were different back then and he did
not have the ability to speak out
against policies and decisions in the
name of protecting student money.
“I don’t think (Barnhart) had the
ability to say ‘well, should residence
hall students be buying land for fu
ture University expansion, is that an
appropriate use of housing money?”’
Eyster said.
Eyster said the administration has
been working well and is obviously at
tuned to the spirit of collaboration and
fairness. He said his main concern lies
in financial compensation for the prop
erties that were paid for with student
housing money but have been or will
soon be used for purposes unrelated to
student housing.
“I’m saying to the University, the
larger campus, I can no longer have
students pay for your land bank,”
Eyster said. “If you want this property,
the University really needs to take it
over and manage it.”
meghanncuniff@dailyemerald.com
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