The Westmoreland Tenants Council’s fight against the University’s proposed sale of the Westmoreland Apartments has three new allies: Sen. Bill Morrisette, D-Springfield, the Residence Hall Association General Council and the ASUO.
The RHA Council passed a motion at its meeting Monday condemning the University’s efforts to sell the property and asking the State Board of Higher Education to remove the proposition to sell the apartments from Friday’s meeting agenda. Morrisette sent the board a letter Tuesday asking that it postpone any action on the proposal to allow more time for discussion between tenants and the University.
The ASUO wrote a letter Wednesday to the University administration condemning the sale, and the Graduate
Teaching Fellows Federation has also voiced its opposition. Both groups will be sending representatives to Friday’s meeting. RHA President Todd Mann will attend the meeting to speak on behalf of the RHA Council.
“Basically, there’s something shady going on here,” Mann said. “We’re coming here to tell them they need to take a deeper look at this.”
University officials announced Oct. 20 that they plan to seek permission at Friday’s board meeting at Portland State University to sell the 21-acre property. The property houses 592 people, according to a University news release, and is considered family housing by the University. Every tenant’s lease expires June 30 and will be honored until that time.
The property has been appraised at $15 million to $18 million. University officials say money from the sale will go toward improving housing closer to campus but that it could be used for other purposes such as purchasing property on Franklin Boulevard.
Two University task groups formed last week to draft plans to help accommodate the tenants who will be displaced if the property is sold and to help address concerns about what to do with the children at the Westmoreland Child Care Center who will need another place to go if the center closes. One group will examine whether it’s possible for the University to help tenants financially in their search for different housing.
“I think getting these task forces defined conceptually is a big step,” Vice President for Finance and Administration Frances Dyke said. “I think that’s what’s going to make a difference in the transition.”
The University is trying to form the groups and get the issues students are concerned about addressed as quickly as possible, Associate Dean of the Graduate School Marian Friestad said.
If the board approves the sale, it will be helpful to have task groups in place to aid Westmoreland tenants with moving, Friestad said.
“I know at some level June seems a long ways away, and on another level it seems just around the corner,” Friestad said.
Morrisette’s opposition to the approval of the sale is rooted in the speed with which the proposal came about.
“I am very disappointed in the haste with which the University appears to be acting – at least publicly – on a proposal with some far-reaching consequences,” Morrisette’s letter reads.
Removing low-income housing like Westmoreland could hurt students who are already struggling to keep up with the cost of higher education, and allowing the University to sell the property without first giving time for affected parties to discuss its effects “would carry with it the stigma of a governmental steamroller,” Morrisette wrote.
Monthly rent at Westmoreland ranges from $405 to $450 for a one-bedroom unit and $445 to $490 for a two-bedroom unit.
ASUO’s letter to the administration echoed Morrisette’s concerns.
“We cannot allow the University administration to stifle discussion, silence student opinion, and oppose the basic priorities of diversity, access, and free thought,” the letter reads.
The letter criticizes the University for seeking approval for the sale without first holding a public hearing in front of the University Family Housing Board. State law requires the University to hold such a hearing if changes are going to be made to housing’s long-range plan.
The University will be holding a hearing at the housing board’s next meeting, but “these discussion are meaningless to students when they occur after the decision to sell has already been made,” ASUO’s letter reads. “It is a disgrace that such an important institution has acted in such a capricious manner.”
The ASUO also opposes the sale because it will force many students, many of whom are international students, to seek new housing that they may not be able to afford.
Ridding the University of 404 units of affordable housing can hurt students’ financial situation and thus hinder their ability to attend the University, ASUO President Adam Walsh said in an interview.
“Not only is it an access issue, but it’s a diversity issue,” he said, referring to the number of international students who live in the apartments.
The University said in an Oct. 20 news release that 25 international students hold leases at Westmoreland but has since concluded that the number is actually 87.
Members of RHA went door-to-door at Westmoreland on Saturday, surveying 101 of the 592 residents. Of the 101 surveyed, 27 were international students, according to the RHA Council’s letter to the board.
“This statistic alone shows that not only are Housing’s numbers low, but they are grossly inaccurate,” the letter reads.
University Director of Media Relations Mary Stanik wrote in an e-mail that the statistics in the news release were provided by University Housing.
Dyke wasn’t sure where housing had gotten the statistics and directed inquiries to Interim Vice President for Student Affairs and Director of University Housing Mike Eyster.
Eyster sent the Emerald an e-mail saying he could not talk about Westmoreland because Dyke is the official spokeswoman on the issue.

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