The Division of Graduate Studies and Graduate Student Association held a town hall meeting focused on housing to kick off several initiatives that will occur over the next academic year to address the difficulties graduate students face in finding affordable housing.
“This is timely and crucial,” said Peter Biehl, vice provost and dean of Graduate Studies. “This town hall is the first of many concrete steps we will take together to tackle this problem."
The panel discussion was centered on generating new ideas and recommendations for short and midterm solutions for graduate student housing for the implementation task force for inclusive excellence in graduate education.
Panelists included Biehl, GSA Vice President for Shared Governance Daniel Copulsky, Professor Miriam Greenberg and Professor Steve McKay, who collaborated with students to study the affordable housing crisis in Santa Cruz with the No Place Like Home project; Distinguished Professor of Economics Nirvikar Singh; Sue Matthews, associate vice chancellor for Colleges, Housing, and Educational Services; and Dave Keller, executive director of Housing Services.
The discussion was moderated by Economics Department graduate student and Graduate Division GSR Andrew Barber.
Follow-up discussions for the coming academic year will include the presentation of an updated cost of living and attendance calculator, a pre-election panel on housing with community candidates as well as speakers graduate students would like to bring to campus.
