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Show ,, THE SO l I II LR, l I \ ti l , I\ I I{" I I \ . { 1-1 > \ H. l : i \ . l I \ II 87TH YEAR; NUMBER 22 THURSDAY,JANUARY 7, 1993 Oak Hall demolition date set for June '9 3 BYSTEVEIAW Thunderbird Staff Writer Forty-eight families will lose their home in June when Oak Hall is tom down to make room for tht; new Llbrary. Oak Hall is the only campus housing available for students with families and the university currently has no plans to build more family units in the fun.ue, says Sterling R. Church, vice president of student services. According to Church, the university would prefer to have the private sector meet the housing needs for married students. ~we fed that it will be economically advantageous for all involved to have the private seam provide family housing," said Church. "It uses their property, no tud nt money will be used, and it is less costly to build so in acrualicy, rent would be lower." Rent at Oak Hall is $215 a month and Church predi.cti; that renting from the private sector will be about $300. One main reason that the univer ity is not going to build any more family housing is the school would have to go through the state to have it subsidized and that would be much more costly than what private contractors could do it for, Church said. Over 100 family housing units have already been identified that are or will be available by the time Oak Hall is tom down on June 15. The university will help families currently living in Oak Hal] find housing in the community. "We feel concern for the tenants and we will do what we can to help them make a smooth transition," said Church. "We have notified the residents of available housing and got them on waiting lists if needs be." It is expected that renting from the community will be about $85 more a month than Oak Hall, but the amenities of community housing should far outweigh those of Oak Hall, Church said. When Oak Hall was built in 1955 it was originally meant for single student holl!'ing--each apartment only consists of 600 square feet "Students are actually lucky to have had Oak Hall as long as they have," said Church. "Everything has finally come together at the right time. We've wanted to tear it down for everal years bur housing hasn't been available. We have been fortunate to have adequate housing come available in the community so we can build the new Llbrary." Demolition of Oak Hall is scheduled to begin on June 15, 1993. lr is expected to take 3-4 weeks to tear down th building and remove the debris. Con truction on the new Llbrary will begin immediat:dy after that iE Administrators hope to have the Library rea y for winrer quarter 1995. After the new Llbrary is completed, the instructional media, equipment repair, Leaming cenrer and computer labs will all remain in the old library with hopes of ruming the entire bottom level into computer labs. Any ~ ::.:A-4,~..UILL.~ J remaining rooms in the current library will be converted into faculty Annie Ashman and her daugluer, BreAnn, are some of the luck, Oak Hall residents who have somewhere to move offices. when the building is tom down in June. The new Library will be constructed in its place. g, g ~ Oak Hall fatnilies are 'ticked off' about their eviction BY CHERlS TUCKER Thunderbird Editor There's nothing like getting an eviction notice two weeks before Christmas. According to Oak Hall residents, their eviction in June means a lot more than moving out of their homes. It's an issue of-pride and inconvenience. "My family and I are being forced to move into subsidized housing," says KH. Christensen. "That affects my self. respect." Most of the families living in Oak Hall are low·income, says Kathryn Peterson, another Oak Hall resident "The married housing in the community is a lot more expensive...we're used to paying $215 and now we'll have to pay $350, $450 a month." That is, if the residents can find housing. 'Tm on lists," says Peterson, a single mother. "It's really rough finding housing for my son and l...The housing around here caters to single students-if l don't find a place, my son will have to stay with my mother." Peterson adds that she, too, will most likely end up in ubsidized housing. M And the subsidized housing is a long ways away from campus-and my car is 13 years old," she says. Seeding R. Church, SUU vice president for srudent services, says the university is doing wharever it can to help the residents find housing. He adds the school feels concern for the students and will continue to help them. Annie Ashman is one of the lucky ones. She and her husband were already planning tO move to Salt Lake before the decision came to tear down Oak Hall. "lt upsets me that they're not building more [married housing] and they're throwing out all those people," she says, "But it was ti.me for it to be tom down." Peterson agrees that·the building is in extreme poor repair. "There are lots of repairs that need to be done," she says, pointing toward her rile ceiling. "I just don't like how the school is handling it." • Christensen echoes that resenttnent "I do feel Oak Hall needs to be tom down, but l think it's appropiate that the school provides other .married housing," she says. "I'm just scared, since there is no where else for my family to go other than subsidized housing... l've heard of a couple of other families that have found places to Live, but it's all subsidized housing." However, not all of the residents said that it was a completely bleak situation. "I'll be glad to get out," says Ashman. "They treat us like little kids that need babysitters all the time ... with all the cleaning inspections they have. We're married adults, but we'n; not treated like it W e'll be happy to leave." |