The Institute Bar: Update

First and foremost to all those who have signed our petition, THANK YOU!!! It is time to double our efforts. We have sent emails voicing our concerns to the current sustainability officer at UCLU and Cc’d the CEO Ian Dancy. The former’s email is seo@uclu.org and the latter’s i.dancy@ucl.ac.uk. Please take the time to bring together some words to demonstrate your concerns; your messages can be as short or a long as they need to be. Even a one-liner can be powerful!! Below are some of the concerns raised so far. These could be used or developed further: • The loss of outdoor space and natural lighting; • The loss of a venue that makes it possible for those with accessibility needs to move around without facing obstacles; • The fact that it is for the students, yet not one student has been consulted; • Similarly, the complete lack of student stakeholders involved in any aspect of this project/move/decision; • The loss of the only unique and identifiably postgraduate social space; • The overall diminishment of student-led services located at Bedford Way since 2015; • They have shown disregard for the student-staff who work in the bar, and no formal period of notice was issued. They stand to lose their incomes from the period of closure; • Students – both undergraduate and postgraduate, trainees, academics and university staff in general will lose the space that they use to work, to study and/or to generally socialise; • That there is no reason why the meeting/learning or whatever space it is that they plan to replace our venue with, can’t be build downstairs instead. What is the rationale behind the fact that the bar and the rest of our union space has to be decimated and moved to the cellar, rather than leaving it as it is and developing the service in its rightful location. This is our space and we shouldn’t have to fight to keep it, but sadly, it seems that we do. Please take the time to let the university know how you feel.