Vanguard

Issue date: 3/31/08 Section: News

It has been the stated long-term intentions of the University to get out of the single-family housing business, and as the University continues to slowly move forward with this plan, some students are not happy.
"We were told that we were being kicked out so the University could build a football stadium," Mathew Wilkinson, a civil engineering student at USA and current resident of Hillsdale, said. "I am outraged."
Wilkinson is one of 15 residents who are currently being told that their leases will not be available for renewal. The University plans to use the land to build a multi-purpose storage and facility unit. An additional four already-vacated homes will also be demolished to make way for the new facility.
"The University has no plans to build a football stadium," Keith Ayers, University of South Alabama director of public relations, said.
However, Ayers acknowledged that there might be some "kernel of truth" to the rumor.
"The plan to build the multi-purpose storage and maintenance facility at this location was approved by the board of trustees predating the discussions about football," Ayers said. "[The facility] will temporarily be used for a football field house and possibly for the band."
The University's intent to get out of the family-housing business - and to rid itself of all its Hillsdale properties - was publicly announced in 2004, according to Ayers. All of the Hillsdale properties are eventually going to be used for something else.
Even prior to the 2004 announcement, the University has considered ridding itself of all its Hillsdale properties.
In a resolution passed in February 2001, the board of trustees approved to finalize negotiations to sell all the University's 700 plus Hillsdale properties to the Hillsdale Area Community Development Corporation, a non-profit organization formed to serve the Hillsdale community. After three years, due to complications in the finalization of the sale, the sale fell through.
In late 2004, the University announced that it still planned to sell all of its Hillsdale properties. In spring 2005, the University publicly announced that it would be re-opening bids for the Hillsdale properties.
Since the re-opening of bids, USA has sold the vast majority of its Hillsdale properties. Ten years ago, USA owned more than 700 individual properties in the Hillsdale community. Today, the University owns 160 properties.
"[The University] will be gradually not renewing leases," Ayers said. "All Hillsdale property will eventually go to some other University purpose. We are getting completely out of the single-family rental business."
Sarah Walton and her husband are both students at the University and residents of Hillsdale. Walton has expressed concerns that if low cost on-campus housing does not continue to be available, they may not be able to afford to remain full-time students.
"If they kick us out of our house we won't have anywhere to go," Walton said. "One of us would most likely have to drop classes and work full-time to make ends meet. With family housing being so affordable, both my husband and myself are able to pursue our dreams of getting college degrees."

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