RELEASE SUSSEX STUDENTS FROM THEIR ACCOMMODATION CONTRACTS
RELEASE SUSSEX STUDENTS FROM THEIR ACCOMMODATION CONTRACTS
The Issue
Demands for UoS Senior Management (extracted from the letter sent 31/10 seen below):
1. Students will be able to cancel their accommodation contracts with the university immediately and without penalty, should they leave their accommodation due to the Covid crisis.
2. Students that choose to remain on campus will have a 30% reduction in their rent in acknowledgement of the contrasting circumstances between their current living situation and what the university suggested when they agreed to move here.
3. The University will ensure students have access to proficient medical advice on campus.
4. The University will do more to tackle student loneliness. This should include, but not be limited to, granting the £66k of funding for the student Buddy Scheme and reinstating the £30k Community Social Fund, which was used to fund small projects at Sussex over the course of the year and which students could use to organise their own events and schemes to tackle isolation and build community at Sussex.
5. The University will provide COVID safe spaces, both indoors and outdoors, for students to socialise and make friends.
6. The University will ensure maintenance works are carried out promptly and that no student is left without water, heating or electricity.
7. The University will be transparent and communicative with students regarding their education (which impacts whether they need to be living on campus or can study remotely).
8. The university will be completely transparent with its finances, providing comprehensive and student-friendly financial reports.
9. The university will provide greater support for international students during this time.
10. The university will join students in lobbying against the government to cancel tuition fees and provide additional hardship funding during the current crisis.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Senior Management at the University of Sussex,
We are writing to you today on behalf of our members, who currently live in University-managed accommodation and are deeply unhappy with their living situations. As cases on campus continue to rise, students in halls constantly find themselves in and out of quarantine. Many students have been in lockdown for two weeks, only to receive contact from the university on their first day out informing them that they must quarantine for yet another two weeks due to a positive case in their accommodation. It is not fair to expect students to live like this, but it is especially outrageous to charge students huge amounts of money to live like this. Moving to university can already be frightening, lonely, and stressful. This is exacerbated by the current situation and the financial burden of living here.
Students were encouraged by the university to move to Brighton, and especially to halls, to get the best university experience: to be near to their in-person classes, to have easier access to campus facilities, and to make friends. Therefore, these are the expectations that students moved to Brighton with. Students were told that, if they did this, they would be safe because the university had taken all the necessary precautions, and had all the safeguards in place, to stop the spread of Covid-19. It is very clear to see that the experience they were sold is not the one that they have had. Despite the commitment to ‘blended learning’, few students are having any in-person teaching. Whilst this makes sense given the concerns around increased cases, it is difficult to understand how the university didn’t see this coming when making promises about ‘in-person teaching’ to prospective students. On top of this, access to campus facilities are extremely limited and most students are struggling to access them because they’re constantly in and out of isolation anyway. Finally, there are almost no in-person activities being organised to help students make friends. Even online events are almost wholly organised by the Students’ Union and student societies, only with less support or resources from the university than in previous years.
As things stand, many students are miserable and angry in their current living situations and would like to be able to exit their accommodation contracts without penalty and return home. This would have little to no additional impact on their studies since their classes are online and they are already unable to access appropriate learning facilities or socialise with other students. This is our first and most salient demand.
1. Students will be able to cancel their accommodation contracts with the university immediately and without penalty, should they leave their accommodation due to the Covid crisis.
Whilst many students want to be able to leave their accommodation and move back home, there will inevitably be students that cannot move out or who would prefer to stay on campus. However, these students are still not getting the experience that was advertised to them when they decided to move here (as outlined in the previous paragraph). There must be acceptance of this and appropriate adjustments to the cost of remaining on campus. Students that remain on campus must also be appropriately catered for when it comes to food provision, financial aid, and healthcare.
2. Students that choose to remain on campus will have a 30% reduction in their rent in acknowledgement of the contrasting circumstances between their current living situation and what the university suggested when they agreed to move here.
3. The University will ensure students have access to proficient medical advice on campus.
Loneliness among students has already been a crisis in Higher Education and this was the case prior to the isolating effects of the pandemic. This loneliness is now even more widespread and far more damaging to the mental health of groups that were already disproportionately likely to feel this. This includes international students, BAME students, LGBTQ+ students, and students with disabilities.
As mentioned, students are dissatisfied with the lack of activities, events, or programmes put in place by the University to tackle loneliness and promote making friends in a year in which this is so critical. Students have been furious to discover that the University has, in fact, so far withheld £66k of funding for the student Buddy Scheme, which has been in place for the past seven years and should have been expanded this year, as it has a proven track record of tackling student loneliness, particularly amongst international students. This suggests a lack of regard for the effects that loneliness can have on student mental health.
In line with this, students have noted that other universities have invested in relatively Covid-secure outdoor spaces so that students may socialise safely. If the University of Sussex wants to support students on campus in their mental wellbeing and facilitate spaces to make friends, then it should follow these examples and provide funding for relatively safer spaces for socialising, which would help to minimise the parties and gatherings that break social distancing guidelines on campus. This brings us to our next demands:
4. The University will do more to tackle student loneliness. This should include, but not be limited to, granting the £66k of funding for the student Buddy Scheme and reinstating the £30k Community Social Fund, which was used to fund small projects at Sussex over the course of the year and which students could use to organise their own events and schemes to tackle isolation and build community at Sussex.
5. The University will provide COVID safe spaces, both indoors and outdoors, for students to socialise and make friends.
Furthermore, we have heard from our members that a particularly pressing concern for many students in university-managed accommodation is the time it is taking for basic maintenance work to be carried out. Whilst we absolutely understand that there is a need to protect staff if maintenance issues arise in isolating flats, we are concerned about the number of complaints regarding lack of access to central heating and hot water, and want to note that maintenance delays were also an issue for students before Covid-19 (in the last academic year). These complaints are particularly prevalent from (though not limited to) students at Park Village. Members are reporting that they are being told minimum maintenance work will be carried out at Park Village as it is set for demolition. This is unacceptable and it also goes against the University’s own guidelines for maintenance work being carried out. Access to utilities is vital, especially for students who may be unwell or at risk of becoming unwell. The University must ensure that communication between students, porters, and other relevant housing staff is adequate enough so that maintenance work is carried out quickly to minimise negative impacts on student welfare.
6. The University will ensure maintenance works are carried out promptly and that no student is left without water, heating or electricity.
As with communication between students and housing staff, communication between the University Executive Group and students needs dramatic improvement. Vague weekly updates from Kelly Coates, normally with last-minute decisions, are not good enough. The clear disparity between what UEG puts across in these emails and what the reality is for students does not go unnoticed. If teaching is inevitably going to move online for most or some courses then students need to know in advance so that they can plan their lives and make decisions accordingly. UEG must be realistic about teaching in the new term and not repeat the mistakes of this term where promises were made that couldn’t be kept.
7. The University will be transparent and communicative with students regarding their education (which impacts whether they need to be living on campus or can study remotely).
We are sure that, with respect to many of these demands, the financial cost remains a barrier. Whilst acknowledging the difficult times we are in, it is not apparent to students that the university’s financial priorities are in the right places. The University’s income is to a large extent made up of student fees and student rent and so students should be able to make a case for where that money should go. In a situation where it is so important that students see their institution prioritising their health and wellbeing, we are demanding that University spending be made accessible.
8. The university will be completely transparent with its finances, providing comprehensive and student-friendly financial reports.
With all of the issues raised so far, international students are disproportionately affected. This is because they pay higher fees, are more likely to live on campus, are more likely to suffer from loneliness, and are often further away from their networks of support. The University must acknowledge this and put appropriate and specific wellbeing and pastoral support in place.
9. The university will provide greater support for international students during this time.
Students recognise that the difficulties they are facing are not happening in a vacuum and is part of a wider national issue. Therefore we want to see the national government announce proper financial support for higher education and an end to the fee-paying system built on student debt that has exacerbated (and in some cases created) all the problems mentioned here. However, we want our university to join us in calling for this.
10. The university will join students in lobbying against the government to cancel tuition fees and provide additional hardship funding during the current crisis.
We hope that you will meet with us to discuss these ten demands that have been put together by students who are experiencing these problems. In these circumstances, it is important that UEG show leadership and compassion with the students that are suffering the most. We have copied these demands onto a petition which is currently collecting signatures and will share this with you next week. If UEG does not demonstrate a willingness to act on these demands then we will have to proceed with appropriate action. We would like a response acknowledging receipt of this email and when UEG will discuss it by Tuesday 3rd November.
We look forward to hearing from you,
Sussex Renters Union
The Issue
Demands for UoS Senior Management (extracted from the letter sent 31/10 seen below):
1. Students will be able to cancel their accommodation contracts with the university immediately and without penalty, should they leave their accommodation due to the Covid crisis.
2. Students that choose to remain on campus will have a 30% reduction in their rent in acknowledgement of the contrasting circumstances between their current living situation and what the university suggested when they agreed to move here.
3. The University will ensure students have access to proficient medical advice on campus.
4. The University will do more to tackle student loneliness. This should include, but not be limited to, granting the £66k of funding for the student Buddy Scheme and reinstating the £30k Community Social Fund, which was used to fund small projects at Sussex over the course of the year and which students could use to organise their own events and schemes to tackle isolation and build community at Sussex.
5. The University will provide COVID safe spaces, both indoors and outdoors, for students to socialise and make friends.
6. The University will ensure maintenance works are carried out promptly and that no student is left without water, heating or electricity.
7. The University will be transparent and communicative with students regarding their education (which impacts whether they need to be living on campus or can study remotely).
8. The university will be completely transparent with its finances, providing comprehensive and student-friendly financial reports.
9. The university will provide greater support for international students during this time.
10. The university will join students in lobbying against the government to cancel tuition fees and provide additional hardship funding during the current crisis.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Senior Management at the University of Sussex,
We are writing to you today on behalf of our members, who currently live in University-managed accommodation and are deeply unhappy with their living situations. As cases on campus continue to rise, students in halls constantly find themselves in and out of quarantine. Many students have been in lockdown for two weeks, only to receive contact from the university on their first day out informing them that they must quarantine for yet another two weeks due to a positive case in their accommodation. It is not fair to expect students to live like this, but it is especially outrageous to charge students huge amounts of money to live like this. Moving to university can already be frightening, lonely, and stressful. This is exacerbated by the current situation and the financial burden of living here.
Students were encouraged by the university to move to Brighton, and especially to halls, to get the best university experience: to be near to their in-person classes, to have easier access to campus facilities, and to make friends. Therefore, these are the expectations that students moved to Brighton with. Students were told that, if they did this, they would be safe because the university had taken all the necessary precautions, and had all the safeguards in place, to stop the spread of Covid-19. It is very clear to see that the experience they were sold is not the one that they have had. Despite the commitment to ‘blended learning’, few students are having any in-person teaching. Whilst this makes sense given the concerns around increased cases, it is difficult to understand how the university didn’t see this coming when making promises about ‘in-person teaching’ to prospective students. On top of this, access to campus facilities are extremely limited and most students are struggling to access them because they’re constantly in and out of isolation anyway. Finally, there are almost no in-person activities being organised to help students make friends. Even online events are almost wholly organised by the Students’ Union and student societies, only with less support or resources from the university than in previous years.
As things stand, many students are miserable and angry in their current living situations and would like to be able to exit their accommodation contracts without penalty and return home. This would have little to no additional impact on their studies since their classes are online and they are already unable to access appropriate learning facilities or socialise with other students. This is our first and most salient demand.
1. Students will be able to cancel their accommodation contracts with the university immediately and without penalty, should they leave their accommodation due to the Covid crisis.
Whilst many students want to be able to leave their accommodation and move back home, there will inevitably be students that cannot move out or who would prefer to stay on campus. However, these students are still not getting the experience that was advertised to them when they decided to move here (as outlined in the previous paragraph). There must be acceptance of this and appropriate adjustments to the cost of remaining on campus. Students that remain on campus must also be appropriately catered for when it comes to food provision, financial aid, and healthcare.
2. Students that choose to remain on campus will have a 30% reduction in their rent in acknowledgement of the contrasting circumstances between their current living situation and what the university suggested when they agreed to move here.
3. The University will ensure students have access to proficient medical advice on campus.
Loneliness among students has already been a crisis in Higher Education and this was the case prior to the isolating effects of the pandemic. This loneliness is now even more widespread and far more damaging to the mental health of groups that were already disproportionately likely to feel this. This includes international students, BAME students, LGBTQ+ students, and students with disabilities.
As mentioned, students are dissatisfied with the lack of activities, events, or programmes put in place by the University to tackle loneliness and promote making friends in a year in which this is so critical. Students have been furious to discover that the University has, in fact, so far withheld £66k of funding for the student Buddy Scheme, which has been in place for the past seven years and should have been expanded this year, as it has a proven track record of tackling student loneliness, particularly amongst international students. This suggests a lack of regard for the effects that loneliness can have on student mental health.
In line with this, students have noted that other universities have invested in relatively Covid-secure outdoor spaces so that students may socialise safely. If the University of Sussex wants to support students on campus in their mental wellbeing and facilitate spaces to make friends, then it should follow these examples and provide funding for relatively safer spaces for socialising, which would help to minimise the parties and gatherings that break social distancing guidelines on campus. This brings us to our next demands:
4. The University will do more to tackle student loneliness. This should include, but not be limited to, granting the £66k of funding for the student Buddy Scheme and reinstating the £30k Community Social Fund, which was used to fund small projects at Sussex over the course of the year and which students could use to organise their own events and schemes to tackle isolation and build community at Sussex.
5. The University will provide COVID safe spaces, both indoors and outdoors, for students to socialise and make friends.
Furthermore, we have heard from our members that a particularly pressing concern for many students in university-managed accommodation is the time it is taking for basic maintenance work to be carried out. Whilst we absolutely understand that there is a need to protect staff if maintenance issues arise in isolating flats, we are concerned about the number of complaints regarding lack of access to central heating and hot water, and want to note that maintenance delays were also an issue for students before Covid-19 (in the last academic year). These complaints are particularly prevalent from (though not limited to) students at Park Village. Members are reporting that they are being told minimum maintenance work will be carried out at Park Village as it is set for demolition. This is unacceptable and it also goes against the University’s own guidelines for maintenance work being carried out. Access to utilities is vital, especially for students who may be unwell or at risk of becoming unwell. The University must ensure that communication between students, porters, and other relevant housing staff is adequate enough so that maintenance work is carried out quickly to minimise negative impacts on student welfare.
6. The University will ensure maintenance works are carried out promptly and that no student is left without water, heating or electricity.
As with communication between students and housing staff, communication between the University Executive Group and students needs dramatic improvement. Vague weekly updates from Kelly Coates, normally with last-minute decisions, are not good enough. The clear disparity between what UEG puts across in these emails and what the reality is for students does not go unnoticed. If teaching is inevitably going to move online for most or some courses then students need to know in advance so that they can plan their lives and make decisions accordingly. UEG must be realistic about teaching in the new term and not repeat the mistakes of this term where promises were made that couldn’t be kept.
7. The University will be transparent and communicative with students regarding their education (which impacts whether they need to be living on campus or can study remotely).
We are sure that, with respect to many of these demands, the financial cost remains a barrier. Whilst acknowledging the difficult times we are in, it is not apparent to students that the university’s financial priorities are in the right places. The University’s income is to a large extent made up of student fees and student rent and so students should be able to make a case for where that money should go. In a situation where it is so important that students see their institution prioritising their health and wellbeing, we are demanding that University spending be made accessible.
8. The university will be completely transparent with its finances, providing comprehensive and student-friendly financial reports.
With all of the issues raised so far, international students are disproportionately affected. This is because they pay higher fees, are more likely to live on campus, are more likely to suffer from loneliness, and are often further away from their networks of support. The University must acknowledge this and put appropriate and specific wellbeing and pastoral support in place.
9. The university will provide greater support for international students during this time.
Students recognise that the difficulties they are facing are not happening in a vacuum and is part of a wider national issue. Therefore we want to see the national government announce proper financial support for higher education and an end to the fee-paying system built on student debt that has exacerbated (and in some cases created) all the problems mentioned here. However, we want our university to join us in calling for this.
10. The university will join students in lobbying against the government to cancel tuition fees and provide additional hardship funding during the current crisis.
We hope that you will meet with us to discuss these ten demands that have been put together by students who are experiencing these problems. In these circumstances, it is important that UEG show leadership and compassion with the students that are suffering the most. We have copied these demands onto a petition which is currently collecting signatures and will share this with you next week. If UEG does not demonstrate a willingness to act on these demands then we will have to proceed with appropriate action. We would like a response acknowledging receipt of this email and when UEG will discuss it by Tuesday 3rd November.
We look forward to hearing from you,
Sussex Renters Union
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Petition created on 1 November 2020