PETITION FROM STUDENTS RESIDING IN EDWARD GAY APARTMENTS, LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY

Purpose: Requesting Louisiana State University and Residential Life authorities to reconsider the closure of Edward Gay (on-campus) apartments or look for favorable alternatives for graduate students before its closure in June 2023. We thank and await a considerate and prompt response from the authorities on this urgent matter which has upset our future plans.

In an email received on 03/07/2022 from authorities of Edward Gay Apartments, occupants have been told to prepare to vacate the residential facility by June 1, 2023. This message has come as a big disappointment and cause for frustration among the students in the facility. In 2019, Assistant Vice President for Residential Life Steve Waller told the LSU Reveille that LSU was working on finding a housing solution for Edward Gay residents “with rates that would be comparable with what the existing population has the ability to pay.” In the same article, Associate Director of Communications for Residential Life Catherine David stated that “the existing apartments provide that interim solution [until alternate funding sources could be secured] — a reasonable, affordable campus housing options for students with families — that we maintain with short-term investments, constant facility work, and resident education.” We would add that international students, not only students with families, benefit from affordable housing. As international students, we receive graduate assistantship stipends amounting to less than $1500 dollars for nine out of twelve months in a year-. A good number of us live with several dependents. A one-year notice to evacuate our apartments without plans to transition us to an equal-cost residence will leave many of us stranded and incapable of paying our bills, especially as the lowest rent of one-bedroom apartments around campus is around $800. A penurious existence awaits us when we move out to expensive apartments outside the campus.

Secondly, with Edward Gay being a graduate student apartment, many of us are in Ph.D. programs that require us to stay in the office for long hours sometimes beginning early in the morning and continuing late into the night. The LSU Residential Life website states that Edward Gay Apartments are “located just a short walk away from classes, laboratories, libraries, and all the events the university has to offer.” Your proposed solutions for Edward Gay residents would force us to live off-campus. Few of us can afford our own vehicles, especially if a larger portion of our stipends must be allocated to living expenses as proposed in your notice. This will lead us to have to decide between relying upon Tiger Trails and city buses and reducing our productivity or continuing our current work schedules only to have to walk to and from campus. This makes living in apartments located out of campus, aside from being expensive, a threat to our safety, to say the least. 

We suggest the Louisiana State University and Residential Life authorities reconsider the closure of Edward Gay (on-campus) apartments or look for favorable alternatives for graduate students before its closure in June 2023. We await a considerate and prompt response on this urgent matter which has upset our plans for the future.