Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) President Gabi Fullam has published an open letter to the Provost calling for immediate and direct action to alleviate some of the burden of the accommodation crisis.
The letter, which calls for an immediate freeze on accommodation and utility fees for the 2023/24 academic year, a review of the pricing of Trinity-owned accommodation, a commitment to working with TCDSU and the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) on their cost of living crisis campaigns, clear and direct messaging to incoming students and an emergency accommodation protocol, states that if College does not make a clear commitment to these demands by April 1st, “escalated action will be taken”.
“We are currently in the middle of a cost of living crisis and a housing emergency”, the letter opens.
“TCD Students’ Union (TCDSU) cannot look at the current landscape and say that Trinity College Dublin is acting with the best interests of students and staff at heart … Trinity has joined private student accommodation providers in exploiting the crisis. Over the last decade, it has hiked rents in Trinity-owned accommodation to extortionate prices that are unaffordable to most of its students.”
Fullam further elaborates that “despite the union’s best efforts in helping students find safe accommodation, we were alarmed at the sheer number of students at risk of dropping out, deferring, arriving in Dublin homeless, or commuting long distances” and that “our Welfare & Equality Officer stressed that hybrid learning must be urgently expanded to support the hundreds – if not thousands – of students facing the choice of abandoning their education or becoming homeless during their studies”.
“We are disappointed in College for not prioritising student welfare, and for continuing to emphasise (as per the Senior Lecturer’s email dated 26th of September) that ‘the University Calendar (Part II B, II. Academic Progress, paragraphs 17-25) makes clear what is expected of you in terms of attendance and the potentially very serious consequences of persistent or significant absence, which include refusal of permission to sit examinations and the requirement to repeat the year’”, she added.
“How can we be expected to continue our studies in the midst of a cost of living crisis that leaves so many of us far away, homeless, or struggling to pay basic expenses?”
On the six demands presented in the letter listed above, Fullam stated that “this is not the first time these asks have been brought to College, specifically having been presented to Student Life Committee and various other College Committees by your union representatives” and that “the asks are reasonable and we will pursue escalated action should they not be fulfilled”.
With regards to the pricing structure of Trinity-owned accommodation, especially accommodation on campus, Fullam suggested several options for reducing the cost for students.
“The first option, and most ideal scenario, would be that Trinity accommodation prices are reduced across the board”, she said.
“A second option would be to have a sliding scale of rent prices within each area of accommodation (i.e., within Front Square, within Goldsmith Hall etc.). Despite the different accommodation types being segmented by price, there is discretion within each accommodation of the different types of rooms available.”
She added: Within a particular accommodation type a student can receive a variation of accommodation set up (single bed, shared bathroom versus two single beds, ensuite etc.). A sliding scale could be enacted thereby allowing rooms with certain set-ups (single bed, shared bathroom) to be charged at a lesser rate than other rooms (two single beds, ensuite)”.
The sliding scale model “would mean that students are not segmented based on their financial ability to afford particular accommodations, allowing for an inclusive accommodation experience for students”.
She also stated that “College should be proactive in its own lobbying efforts to increase public funding for higher education, and to alleviate the cost of living crisis. We should be able to collaborate on this issue and combine forces as staff and students”.
“While we will certainly diverge on many issues, we urgently need an action plan as to where the College will strategise transparently and openly with the Students Union.”
“Students will not support a college that does not prioritise housing justice”, the letter finished. “Escalated action will be taken if we do not receive further correspondence and a commitment to these demands being met by April 1st”.
