The University of Edinburgh has neglected the welfare of students in Pollock Halls (the university-owned campus of catered accommodation). Despite having two months to prepare and an abundance of funding, the University has failed to sufficiently coordinate their response to COVID-19, putting both students and staff at risk. The services that students receive at Pollock are a shell of what we had initially agreed to pay for. Charging full-price fees this year is grossly unfair and it appears that the University is profiting off of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Such failures are most evident in the completely inadequate provision of meals to those in isolation. These meals are simply not of the standard that students are paying between 7 and 9 thousands pounds to receive. They are of poor nutritional value, arrive late, are sometimes out of date, ignore dietary requirements (albeit for religious or other reasons) and are generally cheap and disgusting. We are paying an extortionate amount of money for two fresh, nutritious, hot meals a day and receiving nothing close to this.

Moreover, hygiene standards are poor on campus. For example, dead mice have been found in a pantry cupboard, where students are expected to heat their microwaveable meals. Isolating households do not receive cleaning services, but once again are still paying full price for such services. Students are forced into solitary confinement in their rooms, in order to supposedly stop the spread of Covid-19, but communal facilities (such as toilets and pantries) are not properly sanitised. This seems illogical and surely works to spread both covid and mental health issues on campus. 

Many students in Pollock are facing extremely expensive fines, starting at £50, for minor offences and these punishments are accumulating at speed on people's records. As a result, many students are on the verge of suspension within their first month. It seems, due to the sheer volume of students facing serious penalties, these punishments do not reasonably suit their crimes and the institution is, once again, bleeding students dry of whatever money the can get from them. We acknowledge that there must be restrictions and do not criticise these but more so the system of punishment that is used following the breaking of them.

Thus far, the University have had a reactive, not proactive, approach to promoting the well-being of residents of Pollock Halls. There has been limited genuine mental health support to ensure that students can find support networks and friendships and this is entirely responsible for the overwhelming number of mental health problems that most students are struggling with.

To compensate for this, we are petitioning the University to offer a significant partial refund of accommodation payments and to acknowledge their disregard for the mental and physical welfare of Students in Pollock Halls. We pressure the University to issue a formal apology to the students of Pollock Halls for the immense strain they have been put under for the last month. Moving forward, We ask that the University hold themselves accountable for the well-being of the students whom they encouraged to move into Pollock in the first place and to seriously address all key issues raised in the above letter.

Please sign and share this petition if you agree that it is wrong that institutions, such as Edinburgh University, are profiting off of the students who are trapped in their halls of residence during the Covid-19 pandemic.