Embedded Files
By Luc Le
Published Wed Aug 25, 2021
Amid the sounds of the rushing waves and revelers in idyllic Isla Vista, you may have, in recent weeks, increasingly heard another sound: desperation. With a month to go before the start of classes, hundreds, if not thousands of incoming UC Santa Barbara students face the prospect of not having housing in Isla Vista for the upcoming school year. The university, for its part, would like us to believe that this crisis is an anomaly, the unfortunate result of, as UCSB spokesman Shelly Leachman puts it, “a tight rental-market in the Santa Barbara area and many reports of I.V. residents choosing lower-density living situations.” This is, quite frankly, a pathetic response — one that shifts blame from the actions that UCSB has taken over the course of years that have precipitated and exacerbated the crisis that thousands of students now find themselves in. The housing crunch in Isla Vista is nothing new. Even in normal circumstances, the UCSB administration’s continued negligence and incompetence in this regard meant this crisis was bound to happen. This, then, makes last year’s decision for the university to admit nearly all of its waitlisted students with no plan on how to house them at the very least a nearly criminal level of incompetence. Last year, UCSB extended admissions offers to 97 percent of its waitlisted students, numbering over 6,000. For reference, in 2019, UCSB offered admissions to 10 percent of its waitlisted students, numbering just 601. Such is the state of things at the sixth-ranked public university in the country. But the worst part of this crisis is the way it will exacerbate the struggles of those Black, brown, and queer students to whom UCSB is so quick to affirm their commitment. Housing is and always will be a barrier to education, and in a market where prices are soaring, those without financial means to pay absurd rent prices will be forced into homelessness to attend school or to withdraw entirely. Posting a statement supporting Black Lives Matter or Pride means nothing if your minority students, who overwhelmingly come from less affluent backgrounds, are priced out of a degree. Read the full Article
Amid the sounds of the rushing waves and revelers in idyllic Isla Vista, you may have, in recent weeks, increasingly heard another sound: desperation. With a month to go before the start of classes, hundreds, if not thousands of incoming UC Santa Barbara students face the prospect of not having housing in Isla Vista for the upcoming school year. The university, for its part, would like us to believe that this crisis is an anomaly, the unfortunate result of, as UCSB spokesman Shelly Leachman puts it, “a tight rental-market in the Santa Barbara area and many reports of I.V. residents choosing lower-density living situations.” This is, quite frankly, a pathetic response — one that shifts blame from the actions that UCSB has taken over the course of years that have precipitated and exacerbated the crisis that thousands of students now find themselves in. The housing crunch in Isla Vista is nothing new. Even in normal circumstances, the UCSB administration’s continued negligence and incompetence in this regard meant this crisis was bound to happen. This, then, makes last year’s decision for the university to admit nearly all of its waitlisted students with no plan on how to house them at the very least a nearly criminal level of incompetence. Last year, UCSB extended admissions offers to 97 percent of its waitlisted students, numbering over 6,000. For reference, in 2019, UCSB offered admissions to 10 percent of its waitlisted students, numbering just 601. Such is the state of things at the sixth-ranked public university in the country. But the worst part of this crisis is the way it will exacerbate the struggles of those Black, brown, and queer students to whom UCSB is so quick to affirm their commitment. Housing is and always will be a barrier to education, and in a market where prices are soaring, those without financial means to pay absurd rent prices will be forced into homelessness to attend school or to withdraw entirely. Posting a statement supporting Black Lives Matter or Pride means nothing if your minority students, who overwhelmingly come from less affluent backgrounds, are priced out of a degree. Read the full Article
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