On June 1 2022, a public forum titled “Munger Hall: Student and Public Response Panels” provided an opportunity for hundreds of diverse stakeholders to participate in a public forum on the controversial proposed University of California Santa Barbara’s (UCSB) Munger Hall student housing project. The event was sponsored by UCSB’s student Environmental Affairs Board (EAB), the student and alumni membership organization Campus Housing Alternatives for Munger Hall, Please! (CHAMP!), Santa Barbara County Action Network (SBCAN), the Central Coast Green Building Council (CCGBC), and the American Institute of Architects Santa Barbara Chapter’s Healthy Housing Subcommittee (AIASB.) The forum was organized to provide students, stakeholders, and the public with an opportunity to learn more about the Munger Hall project from two perspectives, and then give their own testimony during an open comment period. The event had three parts: a presentation by UCSB, a presentation by students, and an open public comment period. CHAMP! Chair Deb Callahan provided opening remarks and emceed the event. The first presentation representing UCSB and the Munger Hall planners was given by former Executive Vice Chancellor Gene Lucas who works with the Munger Hall project review team. The second presentation was by a panel of students from an Advanced Environmental Planning class who spent an academic quarter evaluating the Munger Hall project and presented their findings to attendees. Following those presentations, Professor Rita Bright moderated an open public comment period offered students, alumni, and interested community members and organizations an opportunity to express their opinions on Munger Hall.
