George Offer (Halifax Chair)
Yes. However more investment and thought is required in both campuses before further expansion should go ahead. As Hes East campus develops from accommodation for 600 students, to shiny new departments and now 1200 residents a number of issues have arisen. Larger things such as a lack of bar or shop or the somehow still ongoing lack of a cash point, down to basics, welfare provisions like 24 hour porters are a still cold walk away in the hub and couldn’t cope with this year’s move in. It’s not just Hes East that had ongoing issues in need of sorting, out-dated accommodation blocks are far too common for a leading uni, with recent renovations, for example in ‘fax, being little more than a paint job.
Bob Hughes (YUSU Welfare Officer)
In principle, having a ninth college sounds great: more space for students on campus and the excitement of almost 2000 students on Heslington East. However, before that can even be put on the table, we need to know that the students currently on that campus are being provided for adequately. A cash point, shop and proper social spaces spring to mind instantly. So too does the fact that nobody has fully got their heads around what a college is – great work happens, but YUSU research found that a lot of students and staff still felt there was a lot to pin down about what colleges are, and can be. My answer is a tentative yes but only if we know why we’re building a college, what will be there for students and how we can make it a success.
Nina Pullman (York Vision Comment Editor)
The best thing about York’s collegiate system is the opportunity for college spirit and a sense of solidarity, whether that is from sport, charity events or just becoming part of a far-reaching tradition of college alumni. Creating a new college for the sake of a higher intake might detract from these important values that should be at the heart of a collegiate system, and runs the risk of just creating a soul-less block of accommodation rather than a lively and reputable college you would want to belong to. For this reason, I think it would be better to increase the size of existing colleges which already have an established college spirit to work from.
Philip Watson (Dissatisfied student and ex-Fairfax House resident)
As a student who lived off-campus in Fairfax last year, though officially part of Vanbrugh college, my feelings on the introduction of another college is quite simple: what is the point? The only real involvement I felt we, as a house, actually had with our college was perfunctory at best. Excluding the occasional JCRC meeting within Fairfax and our becoming a ‘halfway house’ for college bar crawls, Fairfax may as well have become a college in its own right. Introducing another college into the University seems like an excuse for lots of pointless and tedious administration and the upheaval of a system that, after freshers’ week is over, practically dissolves.