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With the tuition increases and the massive increase in housing costs, going to a public college in California costs several times what it did a few decades ago.

With the tuition increases and the massive increase in housing costs, going to a public college in California costs several times what it did a few decades ago. It's a serious problem. However, students living with professors is a terrible idea. There is already too much sexual misbehavior with weird power dynamics in academia, especially between professors and grad students, and this all happens without them living together. It would only get worse. The real solution is to build more affordable student housing on or near campus, but that would require funds from the state government, which is unlikely to provide them.

ASpring 8y ago
Absolutely agree with your points. Especially given some of the recent high profile settlements regarding sexual misconduct at UCSC these emails seem poorly thought out. > The real solution is to build more affordable student housing on or near campus, but that would require funds from the state government, which is unlikely to provide them. Within the UC, all the housing must be self-funded; it needs to make enough money from residential payments over its lifetime to cover construction/maintenance/services. With UCSC in the bay area, construction is incredibly expensive. This means that the campus literally cannot build affordable housing for students. They are currently building a 3000 space complex (currently held up by NIMBYism, but that's another topic) and the "cheapest" they can build for graduate students is around $1200 per month for a bedroom in a 4 bedroom apartment. Given that the graduate students are being paid ~$2000 a month this isn't a great situation. UCSC is really in a bad spot. Either the state needs to stop mandating blanket enrollment increases across all campuses or it needs to step in and force Santa Cruz to build.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
mylampisawesome 8y ago
Local residents’ objections to new housing often stymie new development, and Santa Cruz is running into the same problem. The university is years away from building a planned 3,000 campus housing unit, but thousands of local residents have already signed a petition to stop the development, notes Curbed San Francisco. Not only funds, but it would require a shift in the attitude of the locals towards such buildings.
noobermin 8y ago
It's kind of upsetting the first thing you think about is sexual assault. If they can't be trusted to share houses with students to they point that they'd assault them, they probably shouldn't teach them.
- ASpring 8y ago
  If only it were that easy to rid of predatory faculty members.
- twblalock 8y ago
  Sexual assault is only one of the many kinds of sexual misbehavior that happens at universities. Even consensual relationships between students and professors are problematic. There are a lot of degrees of sexual misconduct between consensual relationships and physical assault to worry about.
  - noobermin 8y ago
    Do people who lease out their homes on airbnb regularly assault the tenants? Do they regularly have consensual relationships with them? I'm aware they may be an issue, but it certainly hasn't been as much an issue that it made the headlines, the most common issue I read about is airbnb raising the ire of neighbors and local governments. You're making the argument that there is something inherent in professors that makes it more likely they will engage in sexual relations with people, which is problematic and strange.
    - twblalock 8y ago
      > You're making the argument that there is something inherent in professors that makes it more likely they will engage in sexual relations with people, which is problematic and strange. We know for a fact that it happens, and there have been recent sex scandals at the UC Santa Cruz, the university mentioned in the article. This is not a weird or unsubstantiated concern. And I never said there was something inherent to professors that causes it.
    - alex_anglin 8y ago
siruncledrew 8y ago
Yea, this is for sure an absolutely awful idea and I can’t imagine who would possibly give this the ‘OK’. This has to be breaking all sorts of university guidelines and policies. UCSC stands to lose more in lawsuits than they have to gain here. Not to mention this seems counterproductive to student safety and wellbeing.
pjscott 8y ago
My grandfather, a chemistry professor, used to lend out his basement to any of his grad students who had no place to stay. His experience was entirely positive! They were nice people, and it was good to have a new friend in the house. Students living with professors isn't necessarily a terrible idea.

ASpring 8y ago

Absolutely agree with your points. Especially given some of the recent high profile settlements regarding sexual misconduct at UCSC these emails seem poorly thought out. > The real solution is to build more affordable student housing on or near campus, but that would require funds from the state government, which is unlikely to provide them. Within the UC, all the housing must be self-funded; it needs to make enough money from residential payments over its lifetime to cover construction/maintenance/services. With UCSC in the bay area, construction is incredibly expensive. This means that the campus literally cannot build affordable housing for students. They are currently building a 3000 space complex (currently held up by NIMBYism, but that's another topic) and the "cheapest" they can build for graduate students is around $1200 per month for a bedroom in a 4 bedroom apartment. Given that the graduate students are being paid ~$2000 a month this isn't a great situation. UCSC is really in a bad spot. Either the state needs to stop mandating blanket enrollment increases across all campuses or it needs to step in and force Santa Cruz to build.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

mylampisawesome 8y ago

Local residents’ objections to new housing often stymie new development, and Santa Cruz is running into the same problem. The university is years away from building a planned 3,000 campus housing unit, but thousands of local residents have already signed a petition to stop the development, notes Curbed San Francisco. Not only funds, but it would require a shift in the attitude of the locals towards such buildings.

noobermin 8y ago

It's kind of upsetting the first thing you think about is sexual assault. If they can't be trusted to share houses with students to they point that they'd assault them, they probably shouldn't teach them.

ASpring 8y ago
If only it were that easy to rid of predatory faculty members.
twblalock 8y ago
Sexual assault is only one of the many kinds of sexual misbehavior that happens at universities. Even consensual relationships between students and professors are problematic. There are a lot of degrees of sexual misconduct between consensual relationships and physical assault to worry about.
- noobermin 8y ago
  Do people who lease out their homes on airbnb regularly assault the tenants? Do they regularly have consensual relationships with them? I'm aware they may be an issue, but it certainly hasn't been as much an issue that it made the headlines, the most common issue I read about is airbnb raising the ire of neighbors and local governments. You're making the argument that there is something inherent in professors that makes it more likely they will engage in sexual relations with people, which is problematic and strange.
  - twblalock 8y ago
    > You're making the argument that there is something inherent in professors that makes it more likely they will engage in sexual relations with people, which is problematic and strange. We know for a fact that it happens, and there have been recent sex scandals at the UC Santa Cruz, the university mentioned in the article. This is not a weird or unsubstantiated concern. And I never said there was something inherent to professors that causes it.
  - alex_anglin 8y ago

siruncledrew 8y ago

Yea, this is for sure an absolutely awful idea and I can’t imagine who would possibly give this the ‘OK’. This has to be breaking all sorts of university guidelines and policies. UCSC stands to lose more in lawsuits than they have to gain here. Not to mention this seems counterproductive to student safety and wellbeing.

pjscott 8y ago

My grandfather, a chemistry professor, used to lend out his basement to any of his grad students who had no place to stay. His experience was entirely positive! They were nice people, and it was good to have a new friend in the house. Students living with professors isn't necessarily a terrible idea.