The University of Warwick’s Resident Life Team (RLT) is responsible for the wellbeing of students living in halls, and responding to virtually all incidents, both major and minor, that occur out of hours. These incidents can be anything from noise complaints and students locking themselves out to panic attacks, mental health crises, sexual assault, and suicide.

The University of Warwick is attempting to change this model by replacing most of the RLT, including all of the most experienced members of the team (university staff who also serve as RLTs), with 3rd year undergraduates who have comparatively limited experience in this context, and will also be contending with exams and the pressures of planning for their lives after graduating.

Additionally, out-of-hours support will be greatly limited: Currently, RLT staff are available to support students 24/7. The new model will mean Residential Community Assistants (RCAs), will only be available in shifts between 17:00-23:00, and on a very limited night duty rota of only two RCAs for the entire campus. Team managers will live up to 30 minutes away, meaning a slow response time to serious incidents which require additional support if the managers on duty are already occupied. This will have a detrimental impact on student mental health and wellbeing as they will no longer have access to the 24/7 support that the RLT provides, either in emergencies or as a stopgap when accessing professional mental health services.

- The RCA system will transfer significant responsibility for both emergency support and discipline primarily to the Community Safety Team, who are already over-stretched, as well as being considered unapproachable by many students.

- 3rd-year students will be living with 1st-year students. The heightened risk of “sharking” makes the RCA proposal a potential risk to the safety of female students, in particular.

- The proposed changes will disproportionately affect disabled, neurodivergent, LGBTQIA+, minority, and otherwise vulnerable students, who frequently require personalised support at times outside the proposed RCA hours of 17:00-23:00.

- The part-time RCA contract makes the position impossible for medical students (who currently comprise a substantial portion of the RLT), those who work to support themselves at hours clashing with RCA contracted ones, those receiving government benefits, and all PhD students who teach. This makes around 95% of Physics PhD students ineligible, for instance, with comparable figures across other departments.

- All staff members of the RLT will lose their homes because of these changes (as our homes are tied to our contracts which are now not being renewed). Any student member of the RLT who cannot join the new system will be likewise effectively evicted. Some staff members of the RLT have been living on campus and helping students for over 20 years.

We ask:

- That you halt these changes and keep the current RLT model for at least one year, until you have conducted a more thorough, and transparent consultation and review of the RLT, addressing the issues and concerns raised here.