Disclaimer: This article is a part of The Lewd, a biannual satirical project put together by The Lode staff, typically published the week before finals. Opinions presented in these articles do not reflect The Lode values.
In need of more funding, Board of Trustees will meet to begin transfer process
Due to recent budgetary concerns for the fiscal year of 2022-23, the Michigan Tech Board of Trustees made the decision to sell the residence halls to Houghton landlord Dan Backslide. The deal is planned to begin in May and finalized by October, when ownership will be permanently transferred.
Michigan Tech has been operating in deficit for the past 20 years and has sought solutions to make the University profitable again. The plan, which is currently in progress, is to transfer ownership and operation of all the campus residence halls to local landlord Dan Backslide, the former sneak of Roquefort Hall who operates out of Dollar Bay, in exchange for a payment of $5.4 million.
The details of the transaction are due to be discussed between Backslide and the MTU Board of Trustees in May, where the revocation of nonprofit status and payment sum will be finalized. On April 5, the University Senate voted in favor of the transfer during their meeting and Housing Services released a statement approving the action.
Backslide, when talking to the Senate, stated “Drat them! There have been some major organizational issues in the management of the residence halls at Tech … and I feel my team will be able to run it more efficiently.” The proposal would have unused spaces within the dorm buildings be retrofitted with accommodations to both provide more housing for the increasing number of new students and maximize profits. “There has been too little return-on-investment on some of the recreational facilities in the dorms and turning them into more apartments would be better for the school in the end” commented Backslide.
The current plans to construct two more dormitories on campus, one near the Rozsa Center and the other located adjacent to the Student Development Complex are to resume, with their ownership and operation also under Backslide’s company.
The arrangement was announced to the student body the morning of April 20, but the reception to the proposition remains ambiguous. The Undergraduate Student Government is planning to discuss in their next meeting the fact that such a big decision was made without the input of students, who the decision would have the greatest impact on.
Michigan Tech and Backslide intend to hold their first business meeting on May 16. The first of the paperwork is to be completed at that time, after which Housing Services will begin the transition process toward private ownership.
