Letter to the Editor: BYU cannot ignore housing is

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    Shanna McIntyre

    Clayton, Calif.

    In the Sept. 16 issue of the Daily Universe, it was announced that 2000 more students would be added to BYU by the year 2002. It was clear that “no definite plans had been made” to build more housing, even though expanding housing and services is absolutely necessary for an expanded studentbody.

    The year 2002 is only five years away, but there is very little space, which means that construction of new housing needs to start now if more students are to be added with each year. “Investigating possibilities” of expanding Heritage Halls is not enough.

    Finding a place to live is difficult and involves long waiting lists, and, according to the BYU offices for both on and off-campus housing, on-campus dorms are full, and off-campus is almost full with the few vacancies filling up fast. There is no way to squeeze in 2000 more students within five years without building more housing.

    Remarkably, however, Erlend D. Peterson, Dean of Admissions and Records, said that “there is an understanding that we can increase the number of students and faculty without having to increase in brick and mortar.” I don’t know how Mr. Peterson came to this “understanding,” but he must not have done it while living in student housing.

    BYU needs to accept that if they want a large student body, then they must plan ahead and provide housing for everyone. They might be able to pull extra faculty and office space out of a hat, but they cannot ignore the housing issue. Otherwise, BYU will become an overcrowded and uncomfortable place to live.

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