Exeter College students have begun a hall boycott after an emergency JCR meeting was held on Sunday to reaffirm the decision and discuss alternative eating options.
The JCR voted last week to hold a hall boycott to protest against the disproportionately high living costs faced by students compared to other colleges, particularly against the £840 annual catering charge that is paid by students living in.
In a piece written for Cherwell, Richard Collett-White explained the basis of the strike. He noted that students are required to pay £280 “simply for the privilege of setting foot in the only on-site eating place.”
He said, “JCR and MCR have passed motions calling for a hall boycott and regular protests, as a symbolic act of defiance.”
The strike follows a motion in the JCR and MCR passed last week seconded by over 100 students, which said, “the catering charge for students living in is ludicrous.”
It went on, “College did not negotiate properly on rent last year and are totally intransigent on the catering charge issue. Further discussion with College is futile until they start listening.”
Since Trinity, Exeter students have tweeting using the hashtags ‘#FTCC’ (‘Fuck the Catering Charge’) and #CTCC (‘Cancel the Catering Charge).
The college’s Rector, Frances Cairncross, told Cherwell, “We have already been in talks with our students and hope to continue to explore options. Meanwhile, we are sorry that they should boycott the College’s catering provision.”
A Facebook group called ‘Exeter College Hallternatives’ has organised eating options for the boycott by connecting Exeter students with other colleges. JCRs including Balliol, St. Hilda’s, Linacre, and fellow Turl Street colleges Lincoln and Jesus, have offered to take people for lunch and dinner. Balliol has offered students discount ‘Balliol Blues’, while Wadham SU has palso assed a motion of solidarity with Exeter.
The catering manager for the ‘Hallternatives’ said, “Most people in college are totally behind the boycott, and we have received a lot of support from other JCRs as well. As far as negotiations with college go, we haven’t heard too much back, but it is early days.
This Wednesday saw a major day of action, with students from both the JCR and MCR marching through college and Turl Street holding banners. The protest was followed by a ‘Welfare Dinner’ organised by the JCR.
The initial proposal was to try and find a way to make hall more efficient, but the general consensus has changed with students now calling for the college to bare more of the loss hall makes, in keeping with other colleges.
One access volunteer and finalist at Exeter told Cherwell, “With one kitchen for 144 people, nobody took the decision to boycott lightly.
“Following Tom Rutland’s mention of the boycott in his e-mail, we’ve had loads of offers of help from students at other colleges, this is a fantastic display of student solidarity.
“Battels at Exeter are 20% above the median. That scale of variation is not healthy in a university, especially given Oxford already has a bad reputation for being too expensive for many students.”
According to information sent out by the JCR to students, Exeter has the highest catering charge in Oxford by a margin of £116 per term and according to recent OUSU statistics it is the second most expensive college for students living in. It is estimated that, with the catering charge factored in, the cost of eating in hall for someone living in is around £13 a day.
The JCR information also said that Exeter is ranked bottom in Oxford for Living Cost satisfaction according to the ‘Oxford Student Barometer’, making general satisfaction over 30% lower than the average.
Lucy McCann, a first year at Exeter said, “I’ve spoken to many Exeter students who’ve told me that had they known about the catering charge, they wouldn’t have applied to the college; I certainly wouldn’t have myself.
“Not only is the charge unfair, it’s a massive access issue for the college.”
The protests are expected to continue until the end of term.
