In a meeting of the Campus Expansion Advisory Committee, Oregon State University - Cascades responded to formal recommendations from a community task force that focused on housing considerations for the future campus. The branch campus adopted 21 of a slate of 25 recommendations. The branch campus’s response can be found in a recently posted report.
The housing task force was made up of community members, neighborhood association representatives, and City of Bend and OSU-Cascades staff. The group researched and addressed issues such as: on-campus and near-campus housing targets, how to make living on campus appealing; how to transition students to off-campus housing, and how to address unwanted behavior in student-occupied housing.
Among the recommendations that will be incorporated into the planning, development and policies for OSU-Cascades’ new campus are: requiring all non-exempted freshmen to live on campus; a “best practices” for landlords who rent to students; an affiliated housing program with private developers and individual landlords; and an education program for students who live off-campus.
Several recommendations that were not immediately adopted were either referred to another task force for additional investigation or are under consideration by OSU-Cascades. The campus did not adopt a recommendation requiring all non-exempted sophomores to live on campus or in university-affiliated housing.
“Studies show that students are more successful if they live as part of an on-campus community,” said Kelly Sparks, associate vice president for finance and strategic planning. “Rather than mandating living arrangements as the campus grows, we can be more successful in housing students on campus by developing competitively priced living quarters that include amenities that appeal to college students.”
The 10-acre campus will include housing for 300 students, most of whom will be new to the campus. The housing task force also made recommendations for the campus as it grows to 3,000 to 5,000 students. Those recommendations will be revisited as the campus acquires land or facilities beyond the current 10-acre parcel.
Final recommendations were also presented by the health care task force at the CEAC meeting. The branch campus will review these recommendations and provide a response at the CEAC meeting scheduled for December 5.