Quick Take
Citing rising maintenance costs, UC Santa Cruz is starting to phase out its use of on-campus residences to house the provosts of some of its colleges. The first of the homes was built in 1968 for the Cowell College provost.
Citing rising maintenance costs, UC Santa Cruz is starting to close its seven on-campus homes that have for decades housed its college provosts, who are considered the academic leaders of its residential colleges, Lookout has learned.
Sources told Lookout homes for Crown and Cowell college provosts are among the first to be phased out as residences. Those provosts have recently stepped down from their roles, after 11- and nine-year tenures, respectively. Cowell College was the university’s first residential college and its provost home was built in 1968.
UCSC spokesperson Scott Hernandez-Jason confirmed to Lookout via email that the school intended to close “some or all of the provost houses.” Instead of continuing to spend money on the homes’ rising maintenance costs, the university will direct funding toward student services and “broader campus needs.”
“The decision to sunset some or all of the provost houses as primarily single-family living spaces was made due to the high costs and ongoing maintenance needs associated with these houses,” he wrote.
Hernandez-Jason declined to provide Lookout with details of the maintenance costs and when the decision was made. He also declined to confirm details about which colleges would close first.
The move comes amid the university’s attempts to resolve a structural budget deficit that started in 2020. UCSC leaders are in the midst of implementing a multi-year plan to balance the budget, which includes an undisclosed number of staff layoffs, a hiring freeze and reduced graduate student admissions for its doctoral programs. Officials previously said they expected to close the 2025 fiscal year with an $81 million deficit.
Lookout sought comment from seven current and former college provosts for this story. Two didn’t respond to requests; five declined to comment, with one saying the university told them that any comments related to the provosts’ homes had to go through the university’s public relations staff.
The university has 10 residential colleges but has only built homes for seven of them. The J. Herman Blake Provost House for Oakes College was the most recent home UCSC built for a provost in the 1970s. UCSC’s subsequently established colleges, Rachel Carson College (formerly College Eight), College Nine and John R. Lewis College (formerly College Ten) don’t have homes for their provosts.
Santa Cruz is one of two University of California campuses that were established on a model of individual colleges. Whether or not students live on campus, they are given a college affiliation once they’re enrolled depending on their preference and availability. Inspired by Oxford University and Cambridge University, the colleges have unique themes, and proponents of the model say they create an intimate community meant to help students and faculty build deeper relationships, as opposed to larger campuses like UC Berkeley and UCLA.
The homes have traditionally been used for a range of purposes from receptions and student gatherings, to community events and faculty meetings.
UCSC emeritus professor and founding Oakes College provost J. Herman Blake remembered the importance of the provost house in a 2018 news release announcing the university’s decision to rename the residence after him. A sociology professor hired in 1966, he served as provost for 18 years.
“The provost house was a place for students to set aside worries, cares, and turmoil, and have dinner with my family and me,” Blake said in the statement. “It was the center of the community.”
Provosts live in the homes free of charge. While it’s been common practice that they reside in them full-time during their tenure, and the expectation of the university, some provosts have instead remained in their existing homes.
Earlier this summer, Hernandez-Jason dispelled rumors that the university was ending the college provost position entirely.
“This rumor is unfounded,” he wrote. “The campus is not eliminating the college provost role. College provosts are permanent faculty who serve as the academic head of each of our 10 distinctive colleges.”
Hernandez-Jason said the university won’t start closing the homes immediately. He said the remaining provosts living in the houses will continue residing in them through the end of their provost tenure, or for as long as the conditions of the homes are adequate.
“A cross-campus workgroup will be evaluating and recommending future possible uses for these important campus spaces,” he wrote.
The university quietly announced one of those possible uses last month for the Crown College provost home in a news release about renovations happening in a different building that will temporarily displace some departments.
The Bay Tree Building, located in the Quarry Plaza in the heart of campus, will start a 14- to 18-month renovation. The school needs to relocate the organizations working in the building for that time period. The university’s resource centers, like the African American Resource and Cultural Center, will be temporarily moved to the Crown provost house in early fall, according to the release.
A webpage for the Cowell provost home says it’s unavailable for reservations at this time pending “upcoming renovations.”
“Future use of the space is still being determined,” it reads. “Please check back later for updates.”
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