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Silicon Valley University Asks Professors To Offer Students Affordable Housing (fortune.com)
Housing in Silicon Valley is getting so expensive that the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) petitioned 6,000 faculty and staff members to consider offering students "a room in your home." The college's housing director David Keller wrote in a letter that there are "several hundred students" at the university who don't have "housing guarantees" and need support. Fortune reports: Silicon Valley is notorious for its high living costs. And, according to the report, Santa Cruz and its surrounding areas have far more single-family homes than affordable apartments. Worse yet, a senior at UCSC told the CBS affiliate that some "landlords are kind of jacking up the prices because they know about this." The student, Leon Pham, told CBS that he'll pay $1,100 per month for a small room in a shared house.
Still, there are potentially negative implications to schools asking for professors to rent rooms in their homes to students. Professors are still required to fairly judge student work, and a healthy separation between professors and students is usually what colleges want. The housing crunch, however, might have forced the university's hand. And a spokesperson from the school told CBS that the college has policies that govern "the conduct of students and professors."
Still, there are potentially negative implications to schools asking for professors to rent rooms in their homes to students. Professors are still required to fairly judge student work, and a healthy separation between professors and students is usually what colleges want. The housing crunch, however, might have forced the university's hand. And a spokesperson from the school told CBS that the college has policies that govern "the conduct of students and professors."
Alternative: students who cannot afford housing on the local market (at schools which do not provide these dormitories of which you speak), should attend different schools. Two possibilities that spring to mind are schools in more affordable markets, or schools which the student could attend while living with family.
We live in the age of #metoo. Any professor that would house a student is just asking to lose their career.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Is this legal?
In my country it is illegal for students to live in the home of any of their teachers unless they are related because the teachers are in a de facto position of power over the students.
It creates a slippery slope of potential problems including things like molestation "hey, want to be kicked out of the school? Don't tell anyone what happened."
It's legal for teachers in America to allow students to live with them?