In the wake of the University’s May 24 announcement that it has found a buyer of the Westmoreland housing complex, the Oregon State Board of Higher Education gave tenants and community members a formal chance Monday to voice their opinions on the proposed sale.
Westmoreland residents and community members were offered two hearings to speak at the Westmoreland Community Center.
A third hearing will be held June 13 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Both tenants and students living on campus stepped up to the microphone. George Pernsteiner, chancellor of Oregon University Systems, listened on behalf of the State Board of Higher Education.
Nearly all of those who gave testimonies were opposed to the sale.
ASUO President Jared Axelrod was among those who argued against the sale, saying the University has yet to offer a justifiable reason for it.
“We still do not know why this is a necessary step to take,” he said.
Axelrod also said the benefits of diversity and family housing the 404-unit family housing complex provides for its residents are not worth giving up for a one-time profit. More than half of the family housing the University currently provides is at Westmoreland, he said.
Student Senate President Stephanie Erickson spoke on behalf of the Student Senate. She said the Senate recently passed a resolution to oppose the sale.
“We oppose the sale of Westmoreland because it hurts diversity, childcare and access to education,” she said.
Graduate student and Westmoreland resident Claudette Enos said the sale doesn’t affect her because she is finishing her master’s degree and moving out, but the sale would be detrimental to students with families who wanted to remain in the apartments.
“It is a great community here, and it has been sad to see these families go,” Enos said.
One of the few testimonies in favor of the sale came from Frances Dyke, vice president for finance and administration at the University. She said the $18 million the University will net as a result of the sale will address the long term needs of the University, such as the consolidation of its debt to OUS and the future purchase of the Joe Romania property for campus expansion. The fiscal benefits, she said, were in the best interest of the University.
“This sale will, as stated, provide us with the needed financial capacity to begin to address critical housing needs for our current and future students,” Dyke said.
To students who expressed concern for increasing rent under the new ownership, she said they will offered subsidies to compensate for it and that no eligible resident will incur a rent increase through June 2007.
Before the sale can be finalized, it must be approved by the State Board of Education. Pernsteiner said the board will consider the testimonies when it makes its final decision on July 13-14. He said he wouldn’t make a decision on the issue before that time.
“I’m not going to have an opinion before I see everything,” he said.
Some opponents of the sale included people from outside Westmoreland who said they didn’t have a stake in the outcome.
Eugene resident Phyllis Peara said she thought the students had a good case for wanting to remain at Westmoreland, owing to the atmosphere and the facilities that are available to them.
“I don’t have any personal commitment or anything to gain one way or another,” Peara said. “I think it would be good for future students who want to come and live here to keep the student community that exists here.”
Eugene resident and nearby neighbor Debra Nunez said she feels safe when walking through the area because strong communities like Westmoreland create stability and counteract crime that exists in other neighborhoods.
Dyke said she thought people at the hearing represented a diverse group of individuals, and that their concerns about the sale and about some people having to leave the apartments were legitimate. She said their comments and concerns dealt with issues the University still needs to address, but the “facts will speak for themselves” when the board makes its decision on the sale.