university debate on family housing continues

When international student and researcher Ram Ray came to UNH with his family four years ago, he was put on a long waitlist to receive housing. He had to wait two months before he was placed in UNH’s family housing at Forest Park. This year, even though there are fewer rooms available, the waitlist for family housing is not so long.

“I don’t think people are as interested as they were when I came,” explained Ray. “The buildings are old and they need maintenance a lot … and the rent has gone up.”

Faculty senate member Ruth Sample, chair of the Campus Planning Committee, said there is concern that there may be a lack of adequate housing for students with families, international graduate students, visiting faculty and visiting researchers. This harms the university’s research and diversity initiatives because the lack of suitable housing is unattractive to visiting scholars.

At the beginning of April, the faculty senate voted unanimously to recommend converting the Woodside Apartments to family and graduate housing “as soon as possible.”  President Mark Huddleston and Vice President of Finance and Administration Dick Cannon agreed the idea needed to be debated further.

“Any action of this magnitude would require greater study and discussion,” Huddleston wrote in an e-mail.

Cannon said the administration is considering other ideas to solve the problem. “We are pursuing a public-private option on land we own nearby,” Cannon wrote in an e-mail. “The state of the economy will certainly slow down evaluation of that as a realistic option, but we continue to work on it.”

Creating new family housing has been in the university’s master plan for many years. There has especially been a push for new housing since June 2006, when 56 units of Forest Park were torn down to build undergraduate housing.

“The 2004 Campus Master Plan process identified the conversion of Woodside to family housing as one of the ways we can meet the needs for family housing,” said campus planner and university architect Doug Bencks in an e-mail. “We have begun also looking at the feasibility of having an outside developer construct and operate new family housing to be located on university property referred to as Leawood Orchard on Mast Road.”

But Sample feels Leawood Orchard is too far away. “The current level of housing is not adequate to support the university’s research initiative right now,” she said.

site for new business school selected

UNH President Mark Huddleston recently announced that the Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics will be built on the corner of Garrison Avenue and Rosemary Lane, across from Stoke Hall.

“The selection was made with a long term vision for both the university and the town of Durham in mind,” Huddleston said. “The business school will be an anchor for the university and for downtown Durham, enabling this area to become a vibrant center for students and town residents.”

Early speculation about the new building had put it on the west edge of campus, near Gregg Hall. However, in January, rumors began to swirl about a redevelopment plan for downtown Durham, which would put a new privately owned hotel and conference center, as well as a parking garage, in the area of Main Street and Pettee Brook Lane, where the Alpha Tau Omega house currently sits.

The majority of funding for the new business school comes from its namesake, UNH alumnus and entrepreneur Peter T. Paul, who donated $25 million for the project last June. In honor of the gift, the university named both the new facility and the undergraduate business school after Paul.

In the university’s announcement, Huddleston said the school and town are discussing a number of other projects for the future, including a law school and, possibly, a performing arts center.

“These other developments are contingent upon many things, including finalizing a long-range strategic plan for the university and continuing our discussions with the Franklin Pierce Law Center,” Huddleston said. “Nonetheless, it is important that we keep the broad picture in mind as we make decisions about individual projects, especially ones as important as the site of the business school.”