Unaccommodating College London
UCL’s mix of Eastern Bloc and IKEA showroom accommodation still represents terrible value for money. The average fresher at UCL can expect to pay £176 a week for their room – with those living the dream in a single at Ramsay rinsed of £210. Halls have risen in price by 55% over the past 6 years. Justifiable for luxury living, maybe, but disruptive building works at anti- social hours throughout exam period is hardly the Ritz. Residents at Hawkridge House and Kentish Town and Camp- bell House in Bloomsbury – blighted by the refurbishment of the Bartlett – went on rent strike (see CG 48) and, after be- ing threatened with deregistration, were eventually offered a barbeque by way of compensation.
The ongoing dispute is the latest in a string of hellish housing incidents, such as an infestation of cockroaches in Max Rayne and Ifor Evans halls so bad the Evening Standard found half a page for the harrowing details. Resi- dences’ empathy and tact was on show when students tried to complain: they responded with threats to make them pay to get rid of the critters.
Such stingy behaviour is difficult to justify – according to UCL Defend Ed- ucation, the university is due to make a £16m surplus from accommodation costs this year, its highest ever.
It’ll Be All White On The Night
As fresh-faced prospective freshers made their way round campus for July’s open day, hundreds of protesters tried their best to disrupt UCL’s big propaganda push. Members of the Why is My Curriculum White? campaign ‘whited up’ in an attempt to expose the inherent racism they see at the heart of academia.
This came after the research contract of a black academic – Nathaniel Adam Tobias Coleman – wasn’t renewed, and a proposed masters on the philosophy of race was scrapped. Activists from Fossil Free UCL and UCL Cut the Rent were also demonstrating, although most of the day’s activities went off without a hitch.
Feminisn’t
Having come under fire for responding to an allegation of sexual assault made by a female student against a staff member last year with the “apeshit” threat of legal action (see CG 46), in June management seized the opportunity to be on the right side of the struggle against the patriarchy – forcing out Nobel laureate Tim Hunt from his honorary professorship after a high-profile row over a sexist joke. A foolproof idea... had one of UCL’s own misogynistic wheezes not been exposed soon after.
Although Bentham’s leathery nog- gin might as well be tattooed with “WE LET WOMEN IN FIRST AL- RIGHT”, the egalitarian institution he envisioned is happy to forget about them when it comes to making a quick buck from shady regimes (see CG 40). The director of its much-maligned Qa- tar campus has admitted that discrimi- natory pay arrangements treat “[female] employees materially different depend- ing on their gender” to the tune of al- most £3,000 – a breach of equal oppor- tunities legislation – with staff having lodged fruitless complaints as far back as January 2014, to no avail. As Tim might say: “Let me tell you about the trouble with girls. UCL hates them.”
Bloomsbury Shitness
Fan of comedians who had a show on Radio 4 fifteen years ago? Want to perform in a West End theatre to an audience of twelve? If your answer to either of these questions is yes, then we’re afraid it’s bad news. In keeping with its policy of denying students any space do anything, UCL has closed the asbestos-ridden Bloomsbury Theatre until next summer – de- spite promises doors would only shut in Janu- ary. Don’t be surprised if it reopens as the 600- seat cafe we’ve all been waiting for