Victoria University has informed over one hundred first year students, just days out from their arrival that they will have the pleasure of sharing a bunk bed this upcoming year.
Students from Katharine Jermyn Hall, Te Puni and Weir House have all been notified that as compensation for their inconvenience they will have their rooms discounted.
Katharine Jermyn Hall notified affected students in a letter that their rooms would be discounted from $359 per week to $220.
NZUSA President Linsey Higgins described the situation of herding students together similar to the handling of stock.
“You can’t just cram students into rooms like they are cattle. These students were days from moving into their new single room only to be told that they are now sleeping in bunk beds. These students are now being denied the privacy that they had signed up for.”
Victoria University President Jonathon Gee also weighed in on the topic:
“The situation must be a great deal of stress for these new students, many of them leaving home for the first time and being told less than a week before move-in day that they didn’t get what they signed up for. I hope that halls management urgently engages with the students affected to hear their concerns about sharing a room. It sounds like they were given no option but to accept the bunk room.”
However hall staff are confident that the problem will be resolved in the coming weeks and students will be back in single rooms, although student president Higgins disagrees questioning whether or not ‘’the University was hoping for students to fail and drop out so students will get their rooms back?’’