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Monday, June 29, 1998

Housing, recreation

hit by overcrowding

POPULATION: Entering class of over 4,000 puts large strain on facilities

By Lawrence Ferchaw

Daily Bruin Staff

This year's incoming freshman class will be 11 percent larger than expected.

Over 4,000 new students could put a strain on housing, parking, study spaces and recreation facilities.

On-campus housing will be one of the first areas hit. New students will encounter the crunch as they move into the residence halls and suites.

"The reality is, more and more students want to live on campus," said Tom Lifka, assistant vice chancellor of student academic services.

This past year, Housing Administration pit students in floor study lounges for a short time to accommodate the overflow. For the fall, the office plans to create more three-person rooms.

Housing Administration still must determine just how many triples they will have to create to hold an estimated 6,200 first-year and returning students.

"It's hard to predict. (All) we have are applications," said housing services manager Frank Montana.

Administrators expect about 4 percent of those students who have committed to attend UCLA to change their minds over the summer, but even with a 4 percent decline, the class will still be larger than administrators had tried for.

"We're likely to be 250 students over," Lifka said.

The final total is likely to be over 4,000. Last year's freshman class, by comparison, was 3,810.

In 1994, over 4,100 freshmen registered at a time when the campus population was smaller than it was last fall.

The largest freshman class in recent history arrived in 1980. The addition of those 4,600 students pushed the student population over 34,000. Last fall, over 35,500 people filled the campus.

In Los Angeles and at UCLA, a parking space is a precious commodity. The university has about 22,000 spots to accommodate a campus population of over 55,000 staff and students.

Besides parking spaces, students also need study spaces. For many, that means going to the library.

Powell Library, is already crowded, according to Gloria Werner, a university librarian.

"Most all seats are occupied," Werner said.

Werner, however, said she is not worried about the increase of about 300 students from last year, because it is not a "huge increase."

"We do have more space in the research library, and that might be a safety valve," Werner added.

When long lines became common at the library's computing facility, interactive classrooms upstairs were opened to accommodate more people.

Werner said that if overcrowding again became a problem, other computing facilities, may open this year to provide more places for students.

The John Wooden Center, where students go to lift weights or take any number of exercise classes, will deal with a similar situation.

The weight room already gets too full at times, and Wooden Center employees must turn students away. Another 300 freshmen could increase the number turned away, according to Ray Zak, director of cultural and recreational affairs.

"Students may not be able to use (the weight room) at certain times," Zak said.

Zak also indicated that the number of classes the center offers is limited by the space they have.

Because of increased enrollment in the past, construction has become a part of life at the university. UCLA is currently in the middle of a $1.5 billion building push that began in 1986.

UCLA still has fewer facilities per student than many other universities, according to Charles "Duke" Oakley, assistant vice chancellor of design and construction.

"We're on the edge of being under-facilitied," Oakley said.

Construction will increase capacity and reduce some of the crowding.

With the expansion of parking lot 4 near completion, the number of parking spaces will increase by 750 in December.

De Neve Plaza, when it is fully completed in the winter of 1999, will house more than 1,200 students. Next fall, when partially completed, there will be room for 850 students.

"We can't seem to build housing fast enough," Lifka said.