Tearing down Stanford right now was a costly mistake – The Miami Hurricane

Students universally dread housing application season. It’s stressful, expensive and more complicated than it needs to be. UM students, especially incoming freshmen, faced a uniquely difficult application process this year due to the demolition of Stanford and the partial opening of Centennial Village. 

Originally, phase one of Centennial Village was to replace Stanford Residential College in fall of 2022 and phase two was to replace Hecht Residential College in the fall of 2024. Eaton was also supposed to be renovated and incorporated into the new buildings by fall of 2024. 

These plans fell through due to COVID. Instead of adhering to the schedule, Hecht, which housed about 850 students, was torn down in the summer of 2022 with no immediate replacement. The following academic year, both freshman and sophomores were forced to live in THesis Hotel and on-campus housing prices increased due to the shortage. 

Currently, UM has completed and opened phase one of Centennial for students and tore down Stanford.

Tearing down Stanford this past summer was a perplexing decision. Although certain parts of Centennial Village will use the land Stanford was built on, the actual construction of these buildings has not yet started and the plan is unclear.   

On top of this, Centennial has many issues. According to a Centennial RA, the outlets, hot water and computer system weren’t working properly. The RA indicated Centennial was very pretty, but not very functional and felt that construction was rushed.  

This year, UM has about 775 fewer beds than it did in the 2021-2022 school year and is falling even deeper into a housing shortage. 

UM needs to clear the land where Stanford was and prepare for the construction of the second phase, which will add 1,150 beds, but UM should have waited to demolish Stanford until the summer of 2025. This would have followed the same timeline as the first phase of tearing down the old building two summers in advance. 

Phase one construction began during the summer of 2022 and still doesn’t seem to be finished yet. If the remaining buildings don’t open until 2026 at the earliest, why did Stanford need to be torn down now?  

The University’s Housing and Residential Life Department didn’t reply to requests for comment about the teardown and Centennial Village construction timeline. 

Tearing down Hecht and Stanford also eliminated the most affordable on-campus housing options. 

A double in Centennial costs $13,500 per year, per student. A large double in Centennial costs over $7,000 more, at $15,800 per year. A double in Stanford cost about $8,000 for the 2023-2024 year. 

With such limited and expensive on-campus options, some UM students are forced to turn off campus for housing, but that isn’t much better.

 “UM is forcing freshmen to either pay crazy on-campus prices or find expensive off-campus options when they could’ve just kept the cheaper dorms a year longer,” sophomore Addie Murphy stated. 

As of April 2024, Miami is listed as the second-least affordable city to live in, behind Los Angeles. Costly on-campus housing, exceedingly expensive off-campus housing, and the high cost of attendance makes affording UM a challenge. 

For how expensive UM is, and given the live-on requirement, students should not struggle to find housing or be unwillingly placed in a hotel. Also, once a student moves off campus, even if they only did so because they were unable to get on-campus housing, they’re almost always not able to return to campus.  

It’s too late to do anything about the Stanford teardown, but UM still has ample opportunities to make the housing crisis a more positive experience for students. Hiring a bus to transport students between THesis and campus last year was a start. 

UM could also absorb some of the housing costs for students placed in THesis, especially freshman who could’ve been in Stanford, or even try to organize a student event or mixer at THesis. Releasing a clear construction and alternate housing plan would also likely ease student frustrations. 

While these actions don’t compensate for stress and less-than-ideal living experiences, they would certainly help students feel considered and valued. 

UM made a mistake tearing down Stanford right now, but, as always, UM has ample opportunities to make amends beginning with phase two of Centennial Village.