University Life Council
Minutes of Meeting
March 29, 2007
Terrace Lounge
Present:
Jean-Francois Briere, Michael Christakis, John Murphy, Bob Yagelski, Dan
Smith, Kehe Zhu, Candace Merbler, Julia Filippone, Maria Chau and Joan Savitt
(Chair)
Guests:
Peg Reich and Carlos Ortiz, Office of International Education, and Thomas
Gebhardt, Director of Personal Safety and Off-Campus Affairs
Meeting commenced at 3:00 p.m.
Chair’s Report
Minutes from March 19, 2007, meeting were approved. Brenda Seckerson, Bill Reese, Nick
Fahrenkopf and Tim Hoff send regrets for not being able to attend today’s meeting.
Chair Savitt provided feedback from the Executive Council and the UPC (University Planning
and Policy Council) regarding the draft resolution on recreational issues. There is widespread
support for the resolution but the UPC suggested that the draft be edited to strengthen the
wording and clarify some points. Chair Savitt also shared the draft with John Giarrusso,
Assistant Vice President for Physical Facilities, who also supported the draft but recommended
some word changes as well.
Dan Smith asked Julia Filippone if the draft resolution should also include a statement on dining
facilities, specifically regarding the plan to add dining areas within the existing Campus Center
facilities. J. Filippone explained the current status with adding new dining areas in the Campus
Center is that it would probably happen only if a new Campus Center were built.
Chair Savitt will take the UPC’s and J. Giarrusso’s recommendations and redraft the resolution
and then circulate among members via email.
The Task Force on Sexual Assault met with the Provost and there was discussion about the role
the Council will have in advancing the action steps of the Task Force’s recommendations. At this
point, it appears that new wording regarding sexual assault will be worked into Community
Rights & Responsibilities. If the overall “Principles of a Just Community” are revised, those
revisions would move through the appropriate governing entities and come to the full Senate for
a vote.
Dr. Estela Rivero would like to attend an upcoming ULC meeting to update the council on
current programs in the Counseling Center.
Off-Campus Housing Issues
Maria Chau, president of the Graduate Student Organization (GSO), addressed ongoing issues
that students, particularly graduate students, are dealing with regarding off-campus housing. She
distributed handouts with information on how other University Centers provide off-campus
housing resources to their students.
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Currently, graduate students are coming to GSO for legal counsel specifically in regards to their
off-campus housing situations. The majority of the issues seem to be landlord versus tenant
problems.
Dan Smith asked M. Chau if she had consulted with Joe Zumbo, a lawyer who works out of the
Student Association office and assists students with legal issues. M. Chau stated she and others
had tried to meet with him but that Mr. Zumbo can only assist the undergraduates since he is
hired by the Student Association, the governing body for the undergraduate student population.
Members suggested that GSO consider using part of their graduate student fees to retain an
attorney.
Another problem is that there is no graduate student housing and as of the 2008-09 academic
year, no new housing applications will be accepted for grad students. M. Chau is concerned that
her constituency is being overwhelmed with off-campus housing issues and that it may be
affecting their academics. She asked if it would be possible for the University to consider
dedicating a building to graduate students for housing as new facilities are being built.
M. Chau referred to her handouts, which showed other schools in the SUNY system have an
actual off-campus housing office to better assist students with these specific needs.
Members also discussed the change to the housing policy which will remove the requirement that
sophomores live on-campus and how these students could also be affected by off-campus
housing issues.
Tom Gebhardt, Director of Personal Safety and Off-Campus Affairs, introduced himself and
provided background on the history of the Off-Campus Affairs unit and how it evolved into his
current position. He provided handouts to the council on his programs and projects.
Originally, there used to be an actual Off-Campus Housing Office, based out of the Department
of Residential Life. When T. Gebhardt transitioned over to the University Police Department, the
housing portion of his responsibilities stayed with Residential Life. Currently, off-campus
housing assistance and resources for all students is primarily a website with available apartment
information. T. Gebhardt emphasized that importance for students to be aware that he also has
other kinds of off-campus information available.
Members discussed additional off-campus housing issues, including how to help students who
are trying to find housing for the first time.
Peg Reich from the Office of International Education (OIE) provided feedback from the
international student perspective. For international students the issues with finding off-campus
housing are significantly worse. International students can only enter the United States 30 days
in advance of when classes start and some don’t arrive until 5-6 days before classes begin. This
creates many issues, including problems with lease agreements that typically run June to June.
Another issue is that as of 2008-2009, first-year international students are not guaranteed oncampus housing.
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OIE put together a brochure to assist students in finding housing and they have also enlisted help
from United Tenants, a not-for-profit group in the Albany area that helps tenants understand and
assert their rights for safe, decent and affordable housing.
Currently, OIE has arrangements with local hotels to provide a small discount to students who
need temporary housing. OIE also sends out appeals to faculty/staff to house international
students for a short time when they first arrive and assist them with finding housing. Still, finding
safe, decent and affordable off-campus housing remains a burden for international students.
Dan Smith asked if there were any local, cultural groups that could assist students from their
demographic with housing and P. Reich said that OIE has reached out to as many people and
constituencies as possible for assistance but that a better solution would be to try to find a way
that the University could provide temporary on-campus housing for international students.
Michael Christakis, ULC member and Assistant Director for Residential Life, provided some
history regarding on-campus graduate student housing.
M. Christakis and Laurie Garafola, Director of Residential Life, met with GSO representatives
and a decision was made to phase out graduate student housing and as of next year there will
only be one area for graduate student housing.
Alumni Quad‘s Waterbury Hall used to be an area dedicated to graduate students, but not all the
spaces would be filled consistently. Guaranteeing exclusive space for graduate housing means
that undergraduates cannot be housed there even if there is space available, which is particularly
problematic given that UA faces a shortage of on-campus housing for its undergraduates.
Currently, there is a waitlist of 300-400 undergraduates who want housing and a list of only
about 15 graduate students who need housing.
Candace Merbler said that the University is lacking in the area of off-campus housing resources
and suggested that ULC ask T. Gebhardt to work with Residential Life to add links to their
website. C. Merbler did note that in the handouts M. Chau provided that while the other
institutions do have Off-Campus Housing Offices, they do not appear to actually offer legal
services. M. Chau stated that what she would like to see accomplished is for the University to
create a single unit that would provide the necessary information to assist students with all offcampus housing issues.
Members also suggested writing information about off-campus housing issues in other languages
to better assist international students. Kehe Zhu recommended that a contact list for international
students be created so that students would have their own options as to whom they could reach
out to for assistance.
The Council discussed UAlbany’s responsibility to house its students. The number one priority is
freshmen, as they are required to live on-campus. Another issue is that increased enrollment
contributes to the need for more undergraduate housing and members also felt that the
international student presence would continue to build over the years as well.
Bob Yagelski said that the University needs an actual off-campus housing service and
recommended that ULC address this issue.
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Members felt it would be important to continue information-gathering from other institutions and
Julia Filippone said that she would check with her counterpart at StonyBrook to find out how
they handle off-campus housing issues. Retention issues were also discussed and members
pointed out that international students pay out-of-state tuition.
P. Reich said that she would like temporary housing (during August) and a low-cost/no food plan
housing area dedicated specifically to international students.
M. Christakis said he would speak with his colleague in charge of the website to update the links
for off-campus affairs and suggested a meeting with the appropriate individuals regarding
specific updates and changes to the “virtual” off-campus housing office.
Members continued to discuss the need for an actual Off-Campus Housing Office and other ways
to better assist students with their housing needs. A suggestion was made to create a link on My
UAlbany with off-campus affairs and housing information. Maria Chau also said that GSO had
initiated a survey that addressed housing issues and while it was still in raw data format, the
results would be available soon.
Chair Savitt would like to continue focus on the off-campus housing issues and have the council
conduct additional research but wanted ULC to keep the recreational issues resolution as the
primary focus for the immediate future.
Next meeting is April 12, 2007 at 3:00 in the Terrace Lounge.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:45 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Nancy Lauricella, Recording Secretary
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