By Jens Dana
Outside Kattie and Allan Mount?s apartment at Wyview Park, the sidewalks are decorated with amateur chalk drawings of block cars and randomly colored rainbows.
Inside the apartment, the Mounts talked Friday with their neighbors about BYU?s recent decision to transition half of the on-campus married housing to singles housing by July 2006. While the parents talked, the children played Mario Brothers Go Carts.
?We feel trapped and helpless, and it?s the worst feeling in the world,? Kattie said.
The Mounts married about eight months ago. They both are undergraduates, and both expected to live at Wyview Park until they graduate in a few years.
However, now that BYU plans to vacate their apartment for incoming single students, the Mount?s plans may have to be more flexible than either of them anticipated.
Although BYU housing officials held a meeting Thursday for Wyview residents, Katie said she thinks there wasn?t enough notice for the meeting. Most of the residents who attended the meeting found out through a mass e-mail that was sent out about an hour before the meeting, she said.
Kattie and Allan were both working and didn?t find out about the meeting until later in the evening through friends.
?We were not meant to be there,? Kattie said. ?They were just covering their bases. We all feel duped because they went behind our backs. They were being very underhanded.?
Allan said they moved to Wyview Park for the strong sense of community and family-friendly environment, and they don?t plan on moving out easily.
The Mounts have already consulted a lawyer about the legality of BYU?s procedures. Over the next few months, between classes and work, Kattie said she will be talking with the housing department, circulating petitions, working with other upset couples and gathering data to challenge BYU?s assertion that the demand for married housing is on the decline.
Although the Mounts like attending BYU, they said the housing decision may have dramatically changed their long-term plans.
?If we have to move out of Wyview, then we might just go to another school,? Allan said.
