Members of the Tenant Resource Center discussed ways to increase support for a separate student organization Thursday, which would inform student tenants of their rights in apartments and houses near campus.
The new organization would be called the Student Tenant Union and would continue to work with members of the TRC.
After applying for eligibility as Students for the Tenant Resource Center, members were denied for the 2006-'07 school year because the Student Services Finance Committee decided it was ""not separate enough from the TRC,"" said Alex George, campus coordinator for the TRC.
George said the purpose of the STU would be to bring together students whose rights are not being recognized by landlords.
""Let's say you have some landlord that is constantly in violation of the law over and over again,"" George said. ""The Student Tenant Union could have the power to organize those people and call that landlord out in the public.""
George said before the funding cut, the organization did tabling at the Unions to pass out information on tenant rights and held dorm presentations to give future tenants tips on what to look for in apartments.
""We'd bring in a couple people from either a management company or some small time landlords, a building inspector and someone from Tenant Resource Center,"" George said.
George and another TRC campus coordinator, Elizabeth Gokey, said they hoped the STU could bring back these services if they receive funding next fall.
Brenda Konkel, executive director for the Tenant Resource Center, said it would be important for the STU to be staffed with people familiar with the landlord laws.
""When you're talking about tenant-landlord law, the details can get to be very muddy,"" she said.
