Granville Towers residents notice few changes this year

On the surface, Granville Towers looks exactly the same as it has in the past.

But this year, the residence falls under UNC police jurisdiction, and its resident advisers are hired through the Department of Housing and Residential Education rather than Granville Towers.

Some residents said the changes might compromise Granville’s reputation of having an off-campus atmosphere.

“I haven’t noticed a difference yet, but things still may change — it’s impossible to say,” sophomore Sam Kritchevsky said. “It wouldn’t surprise me, but I’m not a part of the typical Granville culture, so I haven’t noticed.”

Granville is set apart from the University not only by its physical location, which is off West Franklin Street, but also through its own parking lot, swimming pool and dining hall.

Only Granville’s RAs and community directors are currently hired through the University, said Rick Bradley, assistant director for housing.

Other services, such as housekeeping, are still operated independently.

Bradley said there are no differences between the responsibilities of previous years’ Granville RAs and those hired by housing.

But hiring RAs for Granville means housing had to search for more students willing to work for a community.

Bradley said the change created no additional hiring difficulties for housing overall.

“The pool was larger than it had ever been because we had Granville Towers coming in,” Bradley said. “Sometimes you have people quit for whatever reason, so you open up hiring again for a short period of time. This year was no exception.”

Granville was placed entirely under UNC police jurisdiction in May, following an agreement with the town of Chapel Hill.

Previously, that area was under the jurisdiction of Chapel Hill Police.

In the past, Granville has hired its own security staff to patrol the towers and parking lot through Guardsmark Security.

UNC police jurisdiction did not extend to University Square because it is a retail area, officials said.

The changes in police jurisdiction and housing staff are part of the UNC-Chapel Hill Foundation’s $45.75 million purchase of Granville and the nearby University Square.

Two of the towers are nine stories, and the third is eight stories. The buildings house more than 1,300 residents.


Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.