Oxford University is our institution of learning and in many cases also our home, so why does it often not feel that way? Whose University? is a campaign highlighting the ways in which the University fails to put its students first. There are several aspects to this. Many students feel that their mental health is ultimately less important than the ‘academic excellence’ and ‘reputation’ associated with Oxford’s intense terms and famously high workload. While the University puts a lot into mental health support services, there seems to be no willingness to think radically about changing the model we work with, or being flexible to meet different students’ needs. ‘Work hard, play hard’ is a hollow phrase used to excuse the huge toll our degrees can put on our mental state.
Another aspect is about our spaces. Many of us live in college, but we struggle to feel like it is really our home when strict accommodation policies force us to move out at regular intervals. We may pay comparable amounts for accommodation as our friends at other universities, but we can only call this room our own for eight weeks at a time. Even around exams, we have to move out to make way for conference guests, collect up our lives and transport them home, to what may not be a stable and happy living situation.
Financially, many of us struggle when weekly accommodation rates are high, and a scarcity of kitchens forces us to eat expensive college food. All these issues affect those students already in difficulty – be it with money, health, or home life – disproportionately.
Whose University? is a movement of students who have come together to talk about these issues, collect student experiences, and work towards changing these problems. So far we have been working on collecting testimonies, in order to connect our experiences. We’ve also been compiling data about the huge disparities between what different colleges charge and what they provide in return, with the aim of producing a ‘Nottington Table’ about the stuff that really matters. But most of all, we want to hear from you. Like us on Facebook, submit a testimony with your own experience, and follow and share what our campaign is doing.
This is our university. We must avoid being cowed by the weight of a traditional and elite institution, and start talking about the various ways in which, in all honesty, it needs to sort its shit out.
