Crutcher has clarified that Student Government has not received any information about housing privatization that is not already public.
YPSILANTI, Mich. - In her executive report during the Student Government meeting on March 5, Student Body President Candice Crutcher mentioned the privatization of housing.
In her statement, she said, “the last couple of weeks we’ve been having conversations around the privatization of housing, seeing where the university is with that.”
Crutcher also said that she hopes the university will have more information soon.
Early last month, Mlive reported that EMU was considering the privatization of the housing department. A university committee was tasked with making a recommendation to President James Smith.
Additionally, the university has been engaged with Student Government, the Faculty Senate and the University Budget Council regarding the privatization of housing.
Talking about whether the university is thinking of moving towards privatization or not, Crutcher said, “Right now it’s still up in the air, we’re still leaning towards not privatizing.”
The President’s Executive Council is discussing the topic, according to Crutcher.
The topic of privatization has been a controversial topic on campus since dining services were privatized in 2016, with a, with on-campus parking being privatized the following year.
Dining services are now provided by Chartwells, under a ten-year contract that was later extended by 5 years. Parking was monetized and is now controlled by LAZ, under a 35-year contract.
When asked about when more information will be released, Crutcher said that she hopes to get more information before the end of the semester, although there is no established timeline for additional information.
