Student democracy in halls is in the process of being “dismantled” by UCL whilst Union officials sit and watch it unfold, a leading Hall Officer has claimed.
Oskar Baltrop, Hall Community Officer for 109 Camden Road, said UCL has been narrowing the space for rights activism in halls by reducing the role of hall officers — formerly hall representatives — to merely “community and welfare”.
Hall community officers have been effectively stripped of their political function ever since the role was restructured without much fanfare in 2024, following years of lobbying by UCL to minimise the role.
Oskar said: “You’re only meant to be creating ‘community’. There’s meant to be a bit of room for sort of [political] things, but it seems there is a concerted or conscious effort to dismantle all-things student advocacy on accommodation rights.”
A UCL spokesperson denied the accusation, saying they are “not planning to make any significant changes” to the role. They added: “HCOs attended the termly Hall Rep Forums with UCL Accommodation staff this year and will be expected to do so in future.
“Hall community officers have a vital role to play in helping ensure all our students have a positive living and learning experience in their accommodation.”
But Oskar (inset), one of this year’s handful of active hall officers, said he has not been to Hall Rep Forums this year because they “don’t exist anymore.”
He said any meetings he’s had with UCL Accommodation’s senior management have been organised through the Union’s Welfare and Community Officer Rachel Lim. “There’s no formal structure for this,” he said.
The hall community officer said he was informed by UCL Accommodation that it was actually “not [his] duty to bring issues on behalf of students”.
Despite being an elected representative of the Union, Oskar’s hall site management has refused to have meetings with him on “multiple occasions”.
He lamented the lack of wider institutional support from the Students’ Union to defend his position against UCL. He said: “I’m having these conversations with Accommodation largely on my own.”
“It doesn’t feel like it’s a Union role — it feels like it’s an Accommodation role, at least with the way management spoke about it, and how it’s going to be next year.
“It seems like it’s largely UCL’s decision rather than the Union’s.”
Approached for comment, Welfare and Community Officer Rachel Lim said: “We’re here to ensure that students are represented in all aspects of student life.
“Feedback from officers and students is central to us improving the role of HCOs, we continue to work in partnership with UCL on enhancing the student experience in UCL halls.” She added Hall Rep Forums have been reintroduced and “will continue to be a thing.”
Until 2021, hall reps received a £2,000 rent reduction for their services, courtesy of UCL Accommodation.
Today, hall officers get an events budget of £600 from which they can apply for funding and be retrospectively reimbursed.
But Oskar said: “The main part of my role is meant to be organising events… but the processing of reimbursements is so unreliable.”
Oskar, who won Best Hall Event at the Community Awards as the only nominee, said he was left some £400 out of pocket for nearly three months at one point by the Union’s broken reimbursement system.
He said: “I’ve had to take a loan from a friend for about £50 once… because I just didn’t have enough money in my own account to organise the events myself.”
The Union still owes Oskar £80 to this day, The Cheese Grater understands.
Oskar is one of a small number of hall officers who exist, and an even smaller number of hall officers who are active in their communities. He was named Hall Community Officer of the Year at the Community Awards, again, as the only nominee.
This article appeared in CG92
