A rent strike was proposed at St Peter’s General Meeting this week in response to the college’s allegedly slow response to the findings of the Fire Risk Assessment. The JCR is giving the college two weeks to respond to their concerns, with the threat of a vote to strike on rent if they do not.
The assessment, carried out in September of 2009, examined all the St Peter’s buildings. There were findings, of which 31 were “significant”, and one “inteolerable”. Findings included a faulty alarm, fire exits which did not comply with legislation and the use of boiler rooms for storage. The Assessment advised that 42 of the problems should be fixed within one month.
Jack Matthews, a third year St Peter’s student, brought forward a motion proposing a rent strike, in order to force the college to take action over the 42 urgent issues.
According to Matthews, “St Peter’s totally ignored the assessment. A broken fire alarm at the Paradise Street Annex was deemed an ‘intolerable’ risk by the assessment, highly recommended to be fixed within one week. But it was not fixed until December 8th (almost three months later).”
“At Paradise Street Annex, only three out of eight fire escapes open; this was supposed to be fixed within a week. Almost four months after the assessment, these doors have still not been fixed, so if there was a fire there today, people in the Annex would have no certain means of escape.
“I have no idea why the college’s attitude is so lax… The warning by the fire officer should have been enough, it shouldn’t have to come to this.”
Richard Rawlings, a second-year English student, agreed with Matthews. He commented, “The fire alarms have been an issue at Peter’s for a long time. When I was preparing for my job interview, the fire alarm was going off all day. One night I was pulled out of my bed by a friend- that time there was a fire, but no alarm.”
Opinion was split over Matthews’ motion. Sanjay Nanwani, ex-JCR President, said the situation was “intolerable and not fair at all.” However, he felt that “a rent strike at this point is frankly overreacting”.
An amended motion was passed which advises all St Peter’s students to defer rent payment for two weeks, giving the college time to look into the issue. This falls within the 21 days that students are given to pay their battels.
If no action has been taken by the college during these two weeks, a vote will be taken at the next general meeting in third week as to whether a full rent strike should go ahead.
JCR President Daniel Stone said, “The motion was fair, as it gives the college enough time to do something about it, and also leaves the JCR’s options open to a full rent strike. I think people would be prepared to get behind the rent strike. No one knew about this before the meeting, but now people are outraged.”
First-year student Michael Anderson, commented, “I would be prepared to rent strike. It’s just not acceptable. Students’ lives could be put at risk by this.”
Jean Wright, the Home Bursar of St Peter’s College issued a statement following the JCR meeting: “St Peter’s College takes fire safety very seriously. The College is working vigorously to improve fire safety in all its buildings and takes seriously the concerns of the student body.”
A spokesperson from the Fire Risk Assessment commented, “Under the new legislation the fire risk assessment is to be risk-appropriate – by identifying remedial action required and planning a strategy to implement these actions, St Peter’s College is fulfilling its obligation under current fire safety law.”
