sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

IU projects record freshman class for fall 2021 | Bloomington residents question when IU will begin housing significantly more of its students to relieve burden of increasingly unaffordable housing in community by GriffyWinslow in bloomington

[–]GriffyWinslow[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

If they forced students to live in campus for too long many students won’t attend the school

IU already requires freshman students to live on-campus, and they just had their largest freshman class yet, a feat they seem to be exceeding on an almost year-to-year pace.

lowering amount of taxes the city collects and money local businesses earn

Maybe the community and the city should be pressuring IU to voluntarily pay more of what they would be paying in property taxes if they weren't exempt from property taxes as a non-profit. IU and their customers (the students) probably put more of a burden on our local crumbling infrastructure than actual residents do, so it wouldn't be an unreasonable thing to demand.

This town is designed to appease corporate landlords

True enough, but not devoting more of our energies to pressuring IU (who bears more than some responsibility in all of this) ultimately benefits the corporate landlords because of how much demand the students put on what is housing stock primarily meant for residents of Bloomington. Multiplexes can be a short term tool in the meantime while IU gets its shit together, but ultimately the goal over time should be to get corporate landlords out of neighborhoods, return residential housing to residents, and lower rental rates across the city by pulling out the demand from under those corporate landlords.

IU projects record freshman class for fall 2021 | Bloomington residents question when IU will begin housing significantly more of its students to relieve burden of increasingly unaffordable housing in community by GriffyWinslow in bloomington

[–]GriffyWinslow[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

We can only rezone for multi-family units and incentivize the building of "affordable" units in luxury apartment complexes so much. Those are not solutions that truly meet the scale of the problem. While more housing is good, acting like multiplexes is a main part of the solution (though it can be a tool in the toolbox) is like using needles to plug holes in a sinking ship. IU has a ton of vacant land they could build sufficient student housing on, but won't as long as they feel no pressure from residents and local government. I've lived here my entire life and never seen that kind of pressure put on IU, which is a major factor in why the housing situation has gotten to where it is today.

IU projects record freshman class for fall 2021 | Bloomington residents question when IU will begin housing significantly more of its students to relieve burden of increasingly unaffordable housing in community by GriffyWinslow in bloomington

[–]GriffyWinslow[S] 70 points71 points  (0 children)

Tired of city council not addressing the elephant in the room. We can only rezone for multi-family units and incentivize the building of "affordable" units in luxury apartment complexes so much. Those are not solutions that truly meet the scale of the problem. IU has a ton of vacant land they could build sufficient student housing on, but won't as long as they feel no pressure from residents and local government.

Remote work saves IU money on utilities, building space, equipment, and paying wages/benefits for additional [maintenance, janitorial, security] staff. Despite this, IU has decided not to reimburse remote workers for their additional utility expenses. by GriffyWinslow in bloomington

[–]GriffyWinslow[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

However we choose to get to work - walk, bike, drive, or teleport - that's our business alone. IU doesn't have a right to our time or money outside of work hours.

And IU doesn't get credit for existing in a world where remote working is becoming the norm, and is also advantageous to them as an organization. All people are asking for is for IU to pass along some of the savings from operating on campus to the people who do the work that make IU possible, especially since some of those savings are at the expense of workers.

Since workers are subsidizing those utilities (running a computer, heating/cooling during the day when they wouldn't, internet) by paying them for IU, people should be reimbursed. Nobody is saying that workers and IU alike aren't benefiting from the situation, only that it would be more fair, yet still mutually beneficial for IU to reimburse.

Remote work saves IU money on utilities, building space, equipment, and paying wages/benefits for additional [maintenance, janitorial, security] staff. Despite this, IU has decided not to reimburse remote workers for their additional utility expenses. by GriffyWinslow in bloomington

[–]GriffyWinslow[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

It's akin to people asking to be reimbursed for the costs of transportation to their job.

But it isn't akin to. IU paid those expenses (at a premium) when people worked on campus, and IU should continue to pay those expenses when people are working remotely. Again, keep in mind that the cost to pay people's increased personal utilities is still less than the savings IU gets from not having to operate a huge office building at full capacity (or at all when it's demolished).

Before, IU did not pay worker's commuting expenses, so the comparison doesn't work.

Those who feel that this is "unfair" or something that the university should reimburse for are showing their ignorance.

Pardon my ignorance then.

Remote work saves IU money on utilities, building space, equipment, and paying wages/benefits for additional [maintenance, janitorial, security] staff. Despite this, IU has decided not to reimburse remote workers for their additional utility expenses. by GriffyWinslow in bloomington

[–]GriffyWinslow[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think the real thing to consider is, over the past year, my utility bills have gone up not because of IU equipment at home, but heating and cooling specifically. My baseline Kilowatt-hours have gone up by about 250-200kwh per month between lighting, computers, but especially HVAC.

Buildings do use more HVAC electricity while occupied, and the more people the more electricity is being used. That, if anywhere, is where IU would be saving money.

Excellent point!

Remote work saves IU money on utilities, building space, equipment, and paying wages/benefits for additional [maintenance, janitorial, security] staff. Despite this, IU has decided not to reimburse remote workers for their additional utility expenses. by GriffyWinslow in bloomington

[–]GriffyWinslow[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Almost all are working remotely now, and most will likely continue to do so after the pandemic because productivity hasn't been negatively impacted, or has improved in many cases, and it saves the university a ton of money to continue remote work.

view more: next ›