Block Talk

Every week, the Vanguard interviews members of the Portland State community in the Park Blocks and asks them a timely question. This week’s question:

Senior communications major Alex Benton, 21, currently lives off campus but previously lived in a residence hall at another university. Her attitude toward on-campus housing is that it is unfair. “I think that on-campus housing is kind of a rip-off in general,” he said. “I went to Oregon State University for two years, and I lived in the dorms my freshman year, and it was ridiculous. It’s so much cheaper to live off campus.”

Sophomore architecture major Michael Ray, 48, isn’t particularly fond of the building’s architecture; he finds it dull. “I don’t know much about the interior of the building. I think the exterior is rather pedestrian and plain. It’s not really striking; I guess it’s the architecture of the day. It doesn’t strike me as a standout building,” he said.Chemistry major Esteban Rodriguez, a 21-year-old junior, sees both positive and negative potential in University Pointe. “It seems like more on-campus housing is probably necessary, although more buildings for classrooms is probably more critical. It seems like it’s another source of revenue for the university, which could be a good or bad thing depending on how it’s used,” he said.

Chemistry major Esteban Rodriguez, a 21-year-old junior, sees both positive and negative potential in University Pointe. “It seems like more on-campus housing is probably necessary, although more buildings for classrooms is probably more critical. It seems like it’s another source of revenue for the university, which could be a good or bad thing depending on how it’s used,” he said.

Sophomore pre-nursing student Ian Frank, 22, finds University Pointe overpriced and is aware that the cost is affecting its residents. “It’s incredibly overpriced and students aren’t really able to afford there really, so I’m not and most of my friends aren’t,” he said. “I did see a lot of signs up on campus of people trying to get out of their lease.”

Rebekkah Brainerd, a 19-year-old senior political science major, thinks University Pointe has a lot of extra features to offer, but she still has mixed feelings. “I thought about going into it, but I couldn’t necessarily afford that. It sounds like more classrooms, which I’m sort of ambivalent about. It doesn’t necessarily affect me, but it sounds like there’s a lot of cool new features and so forth,” she said.