College are Acton up

Halls in North Acton is a terrible idea and should be immediately reversed. It’s a terrible idea. Evelyn Gardens are the way forward for now until you find a better alternative to North Acton. In an ideal world Evelyn Gardens would be kept on as halls for the foreseeable future. If there needs some redoing on the inside, then that is something that needs to be done. Some are better than others. In particular, I remember Willis Jackson basically being fine. I really enjoyed it and didn’t for a minute think it was not a pleasant place to be. Students want halls that are near by, not too expensive, obviously not run down but they don’t need to be a palace. This is what students want from halls: a bed, wardrobe, access to a shower near by, washing and drying machine for clothes, a kitchen, and to be near campus. That’s it. Luxury and everything else is nice, but students would rather be close in a less well furnished halls that is affordable, then further away in a better furnished halls. That’s the too long didn’t read summary, and I thought I’d put it up at the front.

Unfortunately, the North Acton development looks pretty close to being set in stone. We own it now, and it would be hard to back out. If College were willing to, I would shave my head. (Wait, hang on, if they do I can back out right!? If you're reading this Sir Keith, I would hate to shave my head, so maybe you can reverse it just out of spite towards me?) So what can be done to make things right? A great, and difficult, question. Well, perhaps we could become landlords to other students? Particularly those whom the development is more suitable to? Perhaps we could turn them into apartments for young professionals and rent them out? That way Imperial won’t lose money, and a new commercial interest would be developed for the College. Don’t know if any other universities do this, or if this is even a possibility. At the very least, some universities rent out rooms to other institutions (Paragon is actually an example of this). Maybe it sounds like a daft idea, but why not? Loads of companies own space and rent it out. Why couldn’t Imperial. Could be a nice alternative stream of income to the ailing HEFCE money.

What definitely isn’t set in stone is Evelyn Gardens and Garden Hall. We should stall for as long as we can to try to extend the lease.

Now, unless their heads have all been collectively in the sand, they will have heard the opposition to North Acton from the Union during the discussions, and, soon enough, after taking one look at this paper, will see the opposition from students. It’s amazing to see so many students speaking up and speaking out about this; a big factor for this being incredible to see is that it is a decision that won’t affect current students, and so I am genuinely incredibly excited that so many are actively speaking out against something to stand up for other people (in this case freshers who have not yet arrived).

This is what students want from halls: a bed, wardrobe, access to a shower near by, washing and drying machine for clothes, a kitchen, and to be near campus

Now to explain the main reasons for being as against as possible to humanly be to the North Acton move. This is as detailed as I can be in the space provided.

The distance to South Kensington is way too far for freshers. This really is the headline concern. It’s possible to write a very lengthy piece on just this. It’s going to be about 40 minutes each way (I’m being generous). I don’t know about you, but in your first year especially that feels very far away. It’s enough to make you not want to bother with lectures. It’s enough to make it really annoying getting home after a long night in the Library/on campus. It is close to the new campus, which is being built, but, as Paul so beautifully put it, there aren’t going to be any undergraduates using that new campus. North Acton is just too far to travel everyday to and from campus. You want halls to be close and essentially a crash pad near campus. You want to be able to come back after a night out and sleep off the hangover while still being able to get in for lectures. When you’re working late in the Library, you don’t want a long ordeal to get home. You want to be able to get back soon.

The price, once you include travel costs, will still in all likelihood be more expensive than just getting a house in Fulham (like most second/third years do Lillie Road/Ongar Road anybody – come on, everyone knows someone who has lived in that eight person house). Besides, whom would they get a house with and when would they get time to hunt and get one – just two concerns with that. Even if private accommodation were an option, halls is a special and unique opportunity to embrace university life, make friends, enjoy your youth, and have a great student experience (I believe that is the catchphrase everyone uses nowadays). Saying it is in a price band is intentionally misleading. If I said I am going to charge you between 50p and £50 for a bottle of orange juice, you agreed, and then I charged you £45 you would rightfully say you’re being duped into accepting a bad deal. While we talk about the price, it is worth mentioning students want cheaper halls near campus. They do not care much about furnishings. Being near campus and in halls that isn’t grotty is enough.

Evelyn Gardens will likely be closed and turned into something else. This is a travesty as these halls were amazing. I lived in Willis Jackson, and my older sister also lived in EG. They were both great halls that the vast majority of people look back on with fondness.

Another thing that is very annoying in all of this is the lack of honesty and openness from College. Due to it being commercially sensitive, nobody that knew were allowed to say anything to anyone (least of all say anything to Felix). I do not blame them for not leaking as they would have been breaking trust and confidentiality agreements; it would not have been hard to identify the source of the leak. Yes, it would have been a great, bold move to do so. It would have allowed students to be fully informed of everything before College Council had made a decision. Then everyone would have been able to show their dissatisfaction early on. The fact that they had silenced everyone until now, when the decision is further along the line, is a very cynical move indeed. It means they can’t see the student reaction before the decision is made. This allows them to tell students that students were consulted before they properly consult students.

I would like to end by saying that I really must commend Paul for his efforts behind the scenes on this. He (and the Union) has really fought the corner on this one.Now get out there and get your views heard!