UC Riverside is not expanding at the same rate as the student population
UC president Janet Napolitano plans on having a signfiicant increase of undergraduate students for the following school years yet, the university does not have enough classrooms, or campus-housing.
There has been an increase of 25 percent incoming freshman this current school year than the previous. That means there was an increase of 977 incoming freshman compared to last year which was a class of 4,029 freshman.
As May 1st approaches high school seniors will SIR to the univeristies they will attend in the fall. For UC Riverside that means it will have an estimate of 5,000 new undergraduate students. While this is an exciting time for incoming students one thing that many are not aware of is the issue of an increase in the student population but not a fast enough expansion of the campus. Students are beginning school without being aware that there is a very limited amount of campus housing, and class rooms are too full causing students to be unable to register for their required courses.
While yes the university is making more buildings, those buildings are not going to be completed until 2020 or 2025. There has also not been talk of creating more dorms or apartments for students. So why are we increasing our undergraduate population if the university can not sustain us all? Should the university not wait until there are more facilities available to the students? Let us not forget that students are having to take classes at the Pentland residents hall.
For the following school year there will be new housing changes. First off, the current family housing will be shut down and families will be relocated to the Oban apartment complex. While that alone will cause a displacement of the students currently living at Oban it has also reduced the amount of on-campus apartments available to students.
The reason for an increase of incoming students is part of a plan to increase UC funds due to the increase of tuition. State legislatures are offering a $25 million increase in funds for all UC schools if they increase student population. UC president Janet Napolitano keeps mentioning the opportunity cost, in this situation students are the ones at loss and are suffering while the expansion on the school is thriving but at a slower rate. While Napolitano keeps says to not get so fixated on the money and charts. This could be a strategy to not focus on the problems occurring now. Student housing. Instead of being emailed of the student related issues that must be known by students, we are being constantly bombarded by the success the university is having and how it plans to improve itself for the future.
Here at Riverside we have a campaign going on, “Living the Promise”. This is what is being promoted to the students. We are constantly having events to celebrate the new improves being implemented to the future plans for the university. Students are being told that the university is investing in them. The reality is the university is investing in its future students while disregarding the current students. Students are being advertised the idea that UCR is thriving now. This is similar to what Noam Chomsky says the media does.
The UCR media, especially the official school website is promoting the idea that the school is growing and improving. Chomsky says the media is controlled by the elite, that those in power control what is being put out and what people see. In the case of the issue with campus housing and classrooms UC officials such as Janet Napolitano, UC President, and the Chancellor Wilcox are shying away from the lack of housing and not really speaking of it. Instead, in various interviews Napolitano keeps stating that the schools are admitting more students to “accept challenges and solving problems”. While they are admitting more students officials are not solving any problems while accepting those new challenges. In the media it is being portrayed that yes! more students are attending UC Riverside and yes! UCR is expanding. What the media is not reporting is the fact that the expansion is coming at a slower rate. That is something school officials do not want the public to see.
The reality is first year students are having to move to Glen Mor apartments that are meant for upperclassmen students, and the amount of triple dorm rooms has also increase. Yet, you will not see that in the school newspaper, or the housing website but it is being told to you by the people working in housing. It is meant to stay hush-hush to not create any form of panic or frustration.
Students should not ignore the issues the campus is facing but they should pressure those in power to increase the basic resources required for the university to beginning resolving the overpopulated campus issue. The UCR community should also be aware of the filters the media is putting and why they put those filters, is it to hide away a bigger problem? because in this case it is. “Living the Promise” is hiding away the problems UCR is facing now by focusing the students in the future.
