Conceptually, Incompletely-Negotiated Monster Dorm Tuesday, December 07, 2021
UC is now taking the position that the monster Munger UC-Santa Barbara dorm is just at the "negotiations" stage and is not a done deal. Obviously, nothing of this type is a done deal until approved by the Regents - which hasn't happened. But the position now is that it isn't even a done deal in terms of the Munger funding. University of California Refuses to Release ‘Preliminary and Conceptual’ Dormzilla Agreement Officials say they won’t release records related to a proposed 4,500-student dorm because they are still begging a billionaire for money. By Aaron Gordon, 12-7-21 ,Vice The University of California rejected a public records request to release its agreement with billionaire Charlie Munger over the megadorm to be built on the Santa Barbara campus because the agreement is “preliminary and conceptual in nature,” the Office of the President determined. The ruling raises yet more questions about a project that has thus far been shrouded in mystery and lambasted by critics for its lack of transparency. The planned dorm on the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) campus was dreamed up and designed by the 97-year-old Berkshire Hathaway vice president and billionaire Munger, who has no formal architecture training. It is set to house a whopping 4,500 undergraduate students, almost entirely in bedrooms without windows. Instead, the bedrooms will have virtual windows with digital screens that simulate daylight, an untested design for any long-term living arrangement more reminiscent of dystopian sci-fi horror than any proven housing concept. In recent months, the design has been the subject of withering criticism from architecture experts, psychologists who study the importance of natural light to human health, and local housing activists who do not consider Munger Hall an acceptable solution to the campus’s extreme housing crisis. While reporting a story on Munger Hall and the UCSB housing crisis, Motherboard filed a public records request with the university for any and all contracts or agreements relating to the Munger Hall project. UCSB said it had no responsive records and referred Motherboard to the University of California Office of the President (UCOP). In response to the same request filed with that office, a representative from the UCOP Office of General Counsel acknowledged it had one responsive record relating to Munger 212
UCLA Faculty Association Blog: 4th Quarter 2021
