Sociology graduate student Michael Roemer is one of many stakeholders in the UT-owned Brackenridge Tract.
Roemer, a resident of the Brackenridge apartment complex and a father of a Mathews Elementary School student, was one of more than 35 people who urged the UT System Board of Regents Friday afternoon to include the community and city in the planning process for future development of the UT-owned tract.
"These are communities that have been around for decades, and we're all here to let you know that we hope these communities will last many more decades," Roemer said of the two graduate student apartment units located on the 345-acre tract.
Roemer said that graduate students agree there is room for improvement on the tract, but communication should be open in determining what change should occur.
The board designated two hours of its meeting for comments from graduate students, West Austin residents, golfers, Mathews Elementary proponents and West Austin Youth Association advocates in response to the Brackenridge Task Force Report, which was presented to the board last month.
Then-UT System Chairman James Huffines organized the 10-member Brackenridge Task Force in July 2006, appointing developers, lawyers, business executives and two UT vice presidents to compile the report following a year-long evaluation of the tract. Col. George Brackenridge donated the then 500-acre plot to the University in 1910 for educational purposes.
The force concluded that the land holding 515 UT graduate student apartments is not "the highest and best use of the land" and that the contract on the historic 141-acre city golf course should not be renewed.
The biological field lab, host to many College of Natural Sciences classes and extensive ecological research, fared better in the report, which acknowledged the importance of the lab to academics, but questioned the necessity of its size and location. The tract is also home to a youth association and several restaurants.
Most of the leases on the tract do not expire for a decade or longer - a fact the head of the task force said afforded the regents "the luxury of time" in planning for the tract.
Many graduate students who addressed the board Friday cited the proximity of the apartments to campus and shopping, the availability of quality education at Mathews Elementary for their children, the safety of the area and sense of family community as reasons for keeping the housing where it is.
"The quality of life we have to offer here in Austin is a major asset in recruiting excellent students of all sorts, whether they have families or not," said linguistics graduate student Dan Velleman. "There are people coming here that are smart, capable people that have other options. Something is persuading them that where they want to be instead is UT, and I can tell you it's not money that's doing that."
In his September State of University address, University President William Powers cited graduate student recruitment and retention as one of the top goals for the year and one of the ways to make the University more competitive nationally.
Many integrative biology professors say the Brackenridge Field Lab is why the department's Ecology, Evolution and Behavior program is ranked in the top 10
nationally.
Amy Kinkade, principal of Mathews Elementary School, addressed the board Friday and said that there are children from more than 40 countries, who speak 20 different languages, attending the school.
Mathews Elementary attributes its racial diversity to the existence of graduate student housing, where many international students with children live.
"Those international students decide to come to Austin for one because UT has outstanding programs, and two, Mathews can meet their children's needs," Kinkade said.
The majority of West Austin residents who addressed the board were UT graduates, city golf course users, or people with children who attend or attended Mathews Elementary.
"Many UT exes donate their time, money, even a part of their estates back to UT," said Gil Roebuck, who spoke on behalf of the golf course. "The sentiment that UT poses of the tract does not create harmony between UT and many of its alums and UT and its home, Austin."
The board is set to discuss the tract at its next meetings on
Dec. 6 and 7 and may vote on recommendations to the tract, said UT System spokesman Anthony de Bruyn.
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