Locust Walk site plodding along

Plans to turn 3609-11 Locust Walk into a student residence are slowly moving along, Vice Provost for University Life Kim Morrisson said yesterday. "There is a kind of progression," she said. "We are moving, but these things take time." Morrisson said the complexity of the plans to restructure the building, which is scheduled to re-open in fall 1994, are contributing to the delay. Plans call for leaving the facade, while tearing down and rebuilding the back. She said it has not been decided who will occupy the building, which previously housed the University Counseling Services, the Management and Technology department and the tutoring center last year. Another vacant space on the Walk, the former Theta Xi house at 3643 Locust Walk, is also being considered by the University for future residential living. Morrisson said the University has put in a bid to buy the building, but must wait several months before they know whether or not the University will be approved as the buyer. Until then, she said, no plans can be started for the house. In the recent past, students and faculty have called for the replacement of fraternities on the Walk with other organizations that better represent the ethnic, racial and gender make-up of the University community. The administration said it would not remove the fraternities but agreed to give minority groups the opportunity to live in the center of campus as spaces became available. Morrisson said diversifying the Walk is a prominent concern of her office, despite the recent quiet on campus concerning the issue. "[Diversifying the Walk] is not only in our minds, it's on our calendars," she said. United Minorities Council President Pam Urueta said this week that while she thinks diversifying the Walk is an important concern, there are bigger problems she would like to see addressed. "The reason why I haven't made it a big issue this year is because I think that diversifying the Walk is a symptom of a larger problem," she said. "I would rather solve the problem than solve the symptom." Urueta added that underlying problems such as police harassment and financial aid might not get addressed if the UMC concentrated only on diversifying the Walk. "I think it's very tempting to say you've diversified the Walk and now we don't have to work on increasing admission numbers of students of color, working on retention, improving financial aid or schooling the police on how to treat students," she said. "Once you solve those, things like diversifying Locust Walk fall into place." Urueta added that there will be student focus groups meeting during the first week of April to discuss such issues, in an effort to advise the administration on how to make the campus a friendlier place for all students. Morrisson said the administration is looking forward to hearing what these students have to say.