Commentary
Oregon Daily Emerald
Thursday, October 27, 2005
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■ Guest commentary
Keep Westmoreland housing;
lots of students depend on it
On Oct. 20, Westmoreland residents
received a letter from Mr. Mike Eyster,
Interim Vice President for Student Af
fairs & Director of University Housing,
stating that “the University of Oregon in
tends to request action by the Oregon
University System State Board of Higher
Education to sell Westmoreland Apart
ments.” The next day, University Hous
ing officials were quoted by the Oregon
Daily Emerald as saying that there are
two reasons for the sale: One is high
maintenance costs, another is the high
potential cost of repairing the major
structural problems on the site.
Westmoreland tenants are shocked
by this news.
Selling Westmoreland will not only
hurt Westmoreland residents, but the
entire University community. If the Uni
versity sells the Westmoreland Apart
ments and Children’s Center, student
families must face the miserable choice
between letting their children and them
selves starve in order to find a safe place
to live, or quitting school altogether. In
addition, the University, with 20,339 to
tal students enrolled (6,013 graduate stu
dents), will have a greatly decreased
amount of apartments, houses and
childcare centers for student families to
fight over. What a shame.
It is worth noting that the decision
making process of this unreasonable ac
tion is also against the “policies and pro
cedures” on the Oregon Administrative
Rules. OAR (571-022-0025) made it clear
that before any non-emergency action
may be taken by University Housing, it
shall submit to the Family Housing
Board for discussion and review all pro
posals in the areas such as “changes in
long-range planning policies.” West
moreland tenants and representatives
never heard such an issue discussed un
til Oct. 20.
Westmoreland residents also noticed
the information University officials re
leased to the public is inaccurate and
misleading. The following quotes and
facts are from “University officials aim to
sell Westmoreland Apartments,” ODE,
Oct. 21:
1. “High maintenance costs and the
high potential cost of repairing the ma
jor structural problems on the site. ”
In fact, just as Mr. Eyster said in the
letter, Westmoreland Apartments have
been well maintained although they are
45 years old (some housing in the east
campus area is 60 to 80 years old). West
moreland even generates extra money to
pay the commercial loan for Spencer
View Apartments, according to last
year’s Family Housing Board meetings.
As for the so-called major structural
problem, it actually does not exist. Ten
ant representatives were told last year at
the University Housing Board meetings
that Westmoreland is well designed and
the apartments could easily last for an
other 50 or even 100 years with good
maintenance and management.
2. “We started out full, with a lot of
demand, and that's not really the case
right now. ... There are only 360 lease
holders (out of 404 apartments). ”
It used to be true that University
Housing allowed students from Lane
Community College, Northwest Christ
ian College and the Eugene Bible College
to reside at Westmoreland when vacan
cies were available. Some of them are
still current Westmoreland residents. But
this is no longer true. Why did Universi
ty Housing raise the eligibility standards
TENANTS, page3
INBOX
University needs to answer
housing questions
In response to the University’s pro
posal to sell the Westmoreland com
plex, I must voice a few concerns.
Thursday afternoon I received a letter
in my mailbox informing me that my
home will most likely be sold, and that
I will have to move this summer. I am a
graduate student, a GTF, and a West
moreland resident. The University
wants to sell my home because it isn’t
profitable and because it doesn’t serve
“families.” Since when does Mike
Eyster or University Housing get to de
fine what a family is? My partner and I
chose Westmoreland because it was
the only affordable choice for us — a
student couple with no children. The
University provides housing for single
graduate students, undergraduates and
“families.” Evidently, because we don’t
have children, we are not a family.
We live on my GTF stipend, my part
ner’s work study and combined mon
ey from loans. The rent at Westmore
land is the rent we can afford. The
University says that the community
has plenty of housing to take up the
slack. However, the average price of a
one bedroom apartment not subsi
dized by the University is about $150
$200 more a month than the $355 that
we now pay. My partner and I barely
cover expenses as is; does the Universi
ty have any advice as to how to make
up that extra $150-$200 and still meet
basic needs? I have a few more ques
tions I would like the University to an
swer:
1. Do you intend to help the “non
families” that reside at Westmoreland
find student housing or affordable
off-campus housing?
2. Do you intend to subsidize the
moving expenses of the approximately
600 residents of Westmoreland?
3. Do you intend to explicitly reveal,
instead of vaguely allude to, what you
will do with the profit you make from
selling our homes?
Westmoreland residents: Do not sit
idly by and let the University sell your
home. The Oregon State Board of
Higher Education has to approve the
proposal. Let the Board know how
this seemingly innocuous and profit
based proposal will affect you and
your family.
Darlene Hampton
English Department GTF,
Westmoreland resident
■ Editorial
Community
must speak
out about
harassment
In response to alleged racist comments and
death threats, a freshman from Hawaii left the
University during the first week of classes.
University administrators have responded to
the incident by saying that the University
needs to make an effort to better inform stu
dents and parents about support services on
campus and to examine them to see how the
harassment went undetected.
It is admirable that administrators are
trying to figure out how to prevent similar
instances from occurring. But the real
problem is that someone attacked Zane
Lobetos because of his race, causing him
to feel so threatened and isolated that he
decided to withdraw.
According to an e-mail to administrators
from Lobetos’ parents, he “was verbally at
tacked with racial and derogatory remarks,”
threatened with physical harm and received
death threats on the door of his Carson Hall
room. The e-mail circulated in the weeks fol
lowing his departure and rumors swirled sur
rounding the incident, reaching as far as com
munities in Hawaii.
As of Thesday, facts about the incident
were not available because no witnesses have
come forward. University officials were un
aware of the alleged harassment until Lobetos
left the University and they hadn’t been able
to contact Lobetos directly. What is clear,
however, is that something profoundly dis
turbing happened at our University and rele
vant facts must be brought to light.
We must ponder who should be held re
sponsible for this flagrant incident. The indi
vidual or individuals who made the alleged
remarks should clearly be accountable for
their actions. But other students and adminis
trators also share some of the burden. As for
students, we urge anyone with specific
knowledge about the incident to come for
ward. Administrators should take note that
perhaps incoming students need a more de
tailed orientation about support services on
campus. These programs can’t be effective if
new students don’t know how to find them or
don’t feel comfortable using them.
We also encourage students to speak up
about instances like this when they occur.
When students feel threatened, they may not
report harassment for fear of retaliation. But
suffering in silence isolates individuals and
gives power to the minority of people who
perpetrate racism.
Exposing harassment may be embarrassing
to us as students, and rightly so. It is embar
rassing that anyone here would be cruel
enough to do the things described by the e
mail from Lobetos’ parents.
This incident may have damaged our credi
bility in Hawaii; Interim Vice Provost for Insti
tutional Equity and Diversity Charles Mar
tinez and possibly University President Dave
Frohnmayer are going to devote part of a fu
ture trip to Hawaii to addressing concerns re
garding Lobetos’ situation.
Lobetos’ case also exemplifies a larger is
sue. As Hawaii Club co-Director Nestor Ugale
recently told the Emerald, it’s likely this inci
dent isn’t an isolated case. How many other
students feel threatened or discriminated
against but don’t take any action?
We are shocked that this sort of flagrant be
havior would happen on campus. Administra
tors and student groups have taken steps to
create a welcoming environment and a more
diverse mix of students, but these efforts are
in vain if students espouse racist attitudes.