Uni failing in its duty of care, says rent protest group
STUDENTS in Bristol held a protest after claims of mistreatment and lack of mental health support in halls during the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to Bristol Cut the Rent, who were due to strike on Friday outside the Beacon House, treatment of students in isolation and those in locked-down accommodations have been concerning.
The group claims requests for better treatment were raised but the university “refused” to comply with any of them.
Eighteen-year-old student Oliver Bulbrook, a member of Bristol Cut the Rent, said: “The university is following a public health agenda but, as cases continue to rise, they are not considering the fact that housing issues are health issues when you have nobody to support you.”
He said the university is not taking into consideration students’ wellbeing.
“Students feel cheated or have had problems accessing adequate food, sanitary products, the outdoors and mental health services, or have been subject to arbitrary security intimidation,” he said.
“The university, by not dealing with the legitimate concerns of students, is not fulfilling its duty of care.”
A University of Bristol spokesperson said: “We fully acknowledge how stressful and challenging the current situation is.
“We are doing our utmost to ensure our students can continue with their education in the safest environment possible in what are unprecedented times.
The university said last week: “We will be meeting with Cut the Rent on Monday (October 26), to discuss their demands and explain our position.
“Students who withhold their rent will suffer no detriment to their educational progress, however we will ultimately have to follow our standard debt collection procedure as per our tenancy agreement.
“Although students are facing some necessary restrictions to safeguard their health and the health of others, we have been as flexible as possible and believe we’ve gone above and beyond to provide support.”
Will Gardner, a first year student, said: “At the start of our tenancy we were told we would have access to living circles of a number of flats in a block/floor to avoid total social isolation but these are now seemingly ignored by security guards who see anything over six people as a violation of the rules.
“A number of flats around us have not had timely access to food, sanitary products, laundry services or cleaning products during their time in isolation.”
Eve Whittle, who was until recently self-isolating at Manor Hall, said she received no mental health support and when food boxes were eventually delivered, they were not fresh and did not cater to anyone’s dietary requirements.
The university said those that are self-isolating are provided with cleaning supplies, laundry services and free food boxes.