Student housing demonstration

Hundreds of students gathered outside Younger Hall Friday afternoon, at the end of the new Rector’s Installation, to protest against the rising housing crisis in St Andrews.

Earlier this week a Facebook event was started by an anonymous group of Third Year students called ‘Saynt Andrews’, who hoped to organize a protest against the current housing crisis in St Andrews. The Facebook event boasted over 1000 attendees, and it aimed to coincide with the emergence of the new Rector, Catherine Stihler, from Younger Hall following her Installation.

Student demonstrations are quite rare in St Andrews, but hundreds of students turned out at around 12.30pm, some with signs and banners to greet University officials attending the event, among them Principal Louise Richardson.

At around 12.45pm, Catherine Stihler and Louise Richardson emerged from Younger Hall alongside a number of other University staff. The assembled students began chants for affordable housing as well as calling for Louise Richardson to tackle the housing crisis.

Dr Richardson and Ms Stihler approached the students lined up behind gates outside Younger Hall to speak to them directly about the issue.

In a rather surprising turn of events, the Principal and Rector questioned this reporter about the demonstration. The interviewer became the interviewee.

Professor Richardson asked where we thought the problem lay, whether we thought it was in the cost of accommodation or the number of rooms available.

Meanwhile, Ms Stihler said that it was a shame that none of the protesting students had been inside Younger Hall during her Installation as she had addressed the housing crisis in her speech.

Both acknowledged there was a problem, Dr Richardson however asked the students to contribute their own solution to the problem.

One student told Louise Richardson that her student loan couldn’t cover the cost of her accommodation, to which the Principal asked if she wouldn’t consider living further out and riding a bike into town. The student flatly replied that she currently did cycle in as she lived in DRA, the university managed hall, which was also too expensive.

Catherine Stihler agreed that there was a major issue and said that she would be working hard during her term to address the issue. She said she was already working on the problem and called for students to raise their concerns with her through the appropriate channels.

Louise Richardson was hesitant to agree that it was the responsibility of the University to ensure that student housing was affordable and accessible. Another student replied that:

“The University exists for the students, without whom there would be no University. Therefore it is the responsibility of the University to fight for the interests of the students to ensure that everyone can not only afford to learn here, but also to live here”.

The Principal ended by stating that next year there would be 700 new rooms and 100 fewer students. However, recent reports suggest that the University has plans to increase its student numbers in order to address the £2 million reduction in funding it will receive from the government in 2015.

The group, Saynt Andrews thanked students for the turnout, adding that they hoped to present their proposals to the University soon.

The demonstration was indicative of the frustration felt by many students in St Andrews when searching for, and paying for accommodation. Fortunately, Catherine Stihler has acknowledged that there is a housing crisis in St Andrews, and only time will tell if she is successful in alleviating it.

Photo courtesy of Hamish Docherty.