Chaos has hit campus for the fourth year in a row as many freshers arrive to find they have no place to call home.
Dozens of first-years face the daunting prospect of sharing a room with a complete stranger, whilst others are living in temporary accommodation with no idea where they are going next.
The Accommodation Office has yet again failed to find rooms for as many as 30 freshers who face an uncertain future in conference rooms and privately rented houses in the notoriously dangerous Tang Hall area.
One unfortunate fresher arrived on Saturday to find he was the only student staying in remote conference centre Franklin House.
Alcuin Vice Chair Tom Langrish, who is concerned for the fresher’s welfare, told Vision: “he’s not feeling too great about the situation. But wherever Alcuin freshers are we will take every effort to include them… there are a lot of reasons for this situation, none of them really excusable.”
As the university struggles to cope with an unexpectedly large number of students, approximately 80 freshers are being squeezed into twin rooms. Their only chance of getting a room to themselves is if other students drop out.
First Year English student, Rachel, told Vision: “what you apply for, what you pay for and what you think you’re getting you miss out on. And you need to have privacy, especially in your first week.”
Colege welfare teams are being pro-active in looking after displaced students, who have at least all been assigned a college. However, with no additional specific welfare provision in place, there are concerns that the scattered students could become isolated.
YUSU’s Societies and Communications Officer Rory Shanks told Vision: “Our priority is getting students into beds… they’re sending them all over the place.”
Although Shanks assured Vision that “the university is putting its hands in its pockets to resolve this problem,” he admits the emergency arrangements have “attracted a great amount of angst.”
The cause of the crisis is blamed on a combination of administration problems, poor communication with prospective students and an unexpectedly high number of applicants accepting their places.
Student Support Service Manager, Steve Page, said: “The number of unhoused students is statistically very small but we recognise that they are real people… they don’t have anywhere to sleep, which is a big problem.”
Page admitted that the accommodation office had been swamped with complaints, particularly from students who, as late as Friday, still did not know if there would be a bed for them to sleep in. However, he is adamant that there will be a full investigation into what went wrong: “We will be putting all our energies into finding out why this happened and what we can do about it in future.”