monday: informational meeting about income-based housing

as some of you know, the university is building a new dorm which, it is widely believed, will cost more than the regular dorms, creating a system of housing in which wealthier students will live in nicer dorms than less wealthy students.

there's an informational session this monday about it. 6 pm in the basement of van meter dorm (in central). you can register by calling 5-2100 or e-mailing hao@gw.housing.umass.edu (e-mailing is probably a better bet on the weekend). the deadline for registering was this past wednesday, but nobody knew about this event until today, so don't take no for an answer. there will be free subs and pizza.

EDIT: i've received information that rather than a meeting on monday in van meter, the meeting on monday is in the cance lounge in southwest, while there is a separate forum on wednesday in van meter. both meetings are at 6.

EDIT: the new housing is indeed quite a bit more expensive than other dorms: at the forum, we were told that monthly rent per student will be $700. most questions regarding anything but logistical details could not be answered by the presenters, but a forum with decision makers was promised, where questions about where the dollar figure comes from, concerns about a tiered housing system, and the like could be raised.

my estimate of the value of the house is about $400, if you abstract away from the location. i speculate that cost of housing is being distorted upward because of an overabundance of students from wealthy backgrounds - another negative effect of umass's departure from its public education mission. at the university of british columbia, i lived on campus and paid $367 canadian a month for nicer accommodations than the new umass dorms, and that was in a city with high housing costs. stay tuned.