New College JCR voted last week to change the way student rooms are allocated across all year groups. The motion was proposed by JCR Housing and Facilities Office Nick Howley, after he noticed a discrepancy between the final admission figures and the number of rooms available.
The JCR motion noted, “Accommodation for third-years is undergoing a rapid decline to the point of being wiped out by 2014. In two years, accommodation for fourth years may not be guaranteed. Next year the number of third-year rooms will be 12, significantly less than expected and far less than previous years.”
Room shortages have forced students to live out in their third year despite having thought that accommodation would be provided by the college. The motion further noted, “It is of the upmost importance that there are some rooms available for the third years that need them, whether simply for welfare reasons, because there is nobody to live with, or because living out would be an incredibly uncomfortable situation for them, which would dramatically affect their well being, and ultimately their academic performance.”
The motion prescribed several changes to the balloting system, although full implementation has proved difficult owing to lack of accommodation. Because of the disparity in the quality of randomly assigned rooms, the motion called for first-year rooms to be graded, and for freshers to pick their second year rooms through this system. An increase in demand for rooms by other years with higher priority has meant that the number of rooms potentially available to third years is steadily decreasing.
The motion observed that “a number of second-years have had to look for private accommodation at short notice, after everybody else had sorted it and having been led to believe by college that they would have rooms, which means that many have missed their opportunity to live out with the people they want.”
The JCR declared its support for reformation, stating “It is unacceptable to continue to advertise on the New College website and other promotional material that fourth year rooms are guaranteed, and that some third year rooms are available.”
Howley told Cherwell he had instigated “talks with the college to look into getting more accommodation – something they don’t seem opposed to, which is a good start. I think it’ll be something that can be effectively campaigned for and that’s the direction the JCR will be moving in. There are now just a couple of students who still don’t have a room guaranteed by college next year. I am very doubtful that college will fail to find them accommodation; in the worst case scenario a room will be found in another college.”
Students struggling to find accommodation were directed to the Oxford Student Pad website. When asked about the problems at New College, a spokesperson for Oxford University stated, “Providing accommodation for students is a priority for the collegiate University and we are building to meet this need.”
The Warden of New College, Sir Curtis Price, said “The College is very much aware of the increasing pressures on accommodation, for both undergraduates and graduates, and we are acting on various fronts to try to resolve these pressures as quickly as possible. We are also working closely with the JCR to refine the room balloting system.”
Howley added, “My aspiration at the moment isn’t going on holiday, or getting a great job, or winning the lottery. It’s the thought of a college organisation making several concurrent leasing deals with middle-aged landlords.”
