When Marye Anne Fox kicked off her career as UCSD’s
chancellor three years ago, she brought with her a series of ambitious plans
for growth to ebb the campus’ burgeoning housing problems. Among the
aspirations was a desire to, one day, house half of all UCSD students. But as
campuswide overcrowding woes continue to pester the administration, significant
advances in housing have been few and far between — and many have been beyond
Fox’s control.

These shortcomings were most recently apparent as Eleanor
Roosevelt College struggled to house its oversized sophomore class. With space
in apartments scarce, administrators were forced to shuffle many of the extra
students into International House — UCSD’s exchange-student housing unit that
boasts a dedication to world cultures and diversity.

While I-House does typically board non-international
students, these undergraduates undergo a fairly competitive application
process, during which their commitment to participate in multi-cultural activities
while living in I-House is evaluated.

This year, however, nearly half of the spots usually
reserved for American students were filled by sophomores who were forced from
apartment assignments because of space constraints.

The changes’ effects are already being felt by some of the
non-overflow students who have complained of a diminished atmosphere as a
result of the added sophomores — and rightfully so. The extra students detract
from the original mission of the project, which was to boost global awareness
at UCSD.

Though the issue may be small in proportion to the campus’
overall housing concerns, it underscores a stunning failure of former
Chancellor Robert C. Dynes’ administration and spotlights the incessant housing
headaches that plague current campus officials, often preventing them from
making significant headway.

Dynes’ administration, which oversaw ERC’s construction in
2003, should have anticipated the recent booms in student population before it
began construction plans. Instead, only four years after its opening, the
college is already struggling to deliver on UCSD’s two-year housing guarantee.

Clearly, the road ahead for campus housing is not quite as
promising as Fox might like to have us think.

Rather, as has been the history for UCSD undergraduates, we
should expect a patchwork of small successes and great failures in the future.