Loh: Old Presidential Home Needed Fixing

While speaking with officials of College Park and surrounding municipalities at Tuesday's , University of Maryland President Wallace Loh made a point to defend the .

“It’s not really a personal residence. It’s a public residence," he said of the "University House."

, which is funding the project through private donations, the “home” portion of the project, meant for the president to reside, will be 4,000 square feet. That's about 1,600 fewer than the previous structure.

The remaining 10,000 square feet will be used for hosting events and wooing supporters and potential donors to the university. The home portion is expected to cost $2 million, while the event space is expected to cost $5.2 million.

In a recent Washington Post article, Loh repeated what and the previous president have already said: that the old home had a list of costly problems that had to be fixed so that it could be used for hosting guests and fundraising events.

Loh told The Post that he ordered an “absolute firewall” between himself and the project. He didn't even know the price of the structure until he read it in the student newspaper, The Diamondback, he said. (Read more of The Post article here.)

At Tuesday night's meeting, Loh noted that he currently resides in an off-campus home. "I mow my own lawn," he added.

Elected officials of College Park, Greenbelt, New Carrollton and Berwyn Heights expressed gratitude to Loh for speaking at the meeting.

“It’s a breath of fresh air to have a president from the University of Maryland” willing to discuss issues with the community, Councilman Patrick Wojahn (Dist. 1) said.