Results of the Consultation on Pastoral Support in the Halls of Residence

The University has recently completed a consultation exercise on proposals to create more than 50 new student bedrooms by changing the arrangements for pastoral support in the Halls.

The Vice-Chancellor’s Executive Group has now considered the results of the consultation and we are grateful to those people who took the time to submit their views. The consultation has shown the range of groups interested in the outcome of this decision. The VCEG wishes to examine fully the range of options available and the implications of any changes and has therefore decided:

1. To suspend the consultation and implementation process immediately and confirm the status quo for the coming year 2011/12;

2. To review and re-examine the range of options available to ensure the availability of appropriate pastoral support for students and to increase the availability of student rooms in the intercollegiate halls, taking in to account the suggestions that emerged during the consultation;

3. To receive by the end of December 2011 proposals on the case for restructuring and the range of options, along with a full consultation and communications plan; this will take account of our legal obligations to Wardens and to students, and the UK Code of Practice for University-Managed Student Accommodation.

Wardens in Higher Education Residences

In response to the University of London's proposed cuts in student support in the intercollegiate halls of residence, I have founded Wardens in Higher Education Residences (WHER).

WHER is a new charitable company limited by guarantee, incorporated and registered at Companies House on 16 June 2011. As an incorporated legal entity, WHER has power to own property, manage its own finances, engage in public campaigning and political lobbying, and pursue legal action.

WHER's values may be stated as follows:

We believe in promoting ethical standards of conduct and compliance with the law by providers of student accommodation.

We believe student accommodation must provide robust systems for pastoral support, discipline, and community building.

We believe that university accommodation should provide opportunities for the academic, social, recreational, and cultural development of students.

We believe that student accommodation providers must put in place clear and effective structures to deal with noise, nuisance, vandalism, bullying, and racial, homophobic, and other kinds of abuse.

Please join us and support this important cause today!

Download an application form: http://www.hallwardens.org/WHER-application.pdf

Get in touch at info@hallwardens.org, "like" our Facebook page, or follow us on Twitter @HigherEdWardens.

As well as recruiting a membership base, WHER is currently looking to appoint two new Directors to manage the charity. I'd be happy to discuss this with anyone who might be interested.

Wardens' formal consultation response

The response of the ten University of London wardens and vice-wardens to a proposal to cut student support in the halls of residence has been published online: http://www.hallwardens.org/wardens-response.pdf

Letter to Editor of London Student

Sir

I read with interest your interview with Martin Burchett about the University of London’s proposal to remove wardens and vice-wardens from the intercollegiate halls of residence.

Wardens are life-in staff who work part-time in the halls, being also employed as academic or senior academically-related staff elsewhere within the University. We help to provide students, especially first year undergraduates, with a safe, friendly and supportive home-from-home in halls by maintaining discipline, resolving conflicts, supporting students with difficulties, and organising community and social events.

The University of London Strategic Plan for 2009-14 states that “the University has a proud tradition of providing services to Colleges which add to their students’ experience of University life, both educationally and socially.” Wardens are one of the main ways in which the University maintains this tradition.

Students in halls are often living away from home for the first time. In my experience, they can encounter problems with loneliness, social isolation, bullying, conflicts related to religion or sexuality, depression, eating disorders, drug and alcohol abuse, self-harm and suicidal thoughts, as well as antisocial behaviour, noisy neighbours, theft, and damage to property. Wardens have a wealth of experience in offering front-line advice and support for students wrestling with these problems.
The University’s stated reason for cutting wardens and vice-wardens is to create up to 52 extra student rooms from the conversion of wardens’ flats. The University asserts that the cuts will not cause a reduction in the level of pastoral support or community building because the wardens’ functions will be taken on by volunteer senior students and the halls’ administration staff. They further argue that private halls of residence and some other universities’ halls do not have wardens.

We certainly recognise the need for more student accommodation in London, but degrading the quality of existing accommodation is not the way to do it. The University’s plan is akin to making more seats on an aeroplane by taking out the pilot: it won’t get off the ground. We can identify numerous means by which more accommodation can be created in the halls, without shedding staff or cutting services.

Of course removing all of the currently employed, dedicated, and experienced welfare and community-building staff out of the halls will lead to a reduction in the level of support and social events. There is nothing in the cuts proposal to guarantee otherwise.

It is true that private halls of residence often do not have wardens. But we are, after all, a University: surely it is our responsibility to provide academic and pastoral support for students? Students who are more independent or who require less of a social scene in their residence may well choose to live in private halls; but the University should make provision for those who wish or need to choose a more supported or more social living environment.

It is also true that some other universities do not have wardens in their halls. But if you look at the top ten UK universities, nine of them have wardenial systems similar to ours; and nearly all of the elite Russell Group universities have wardens. These are the institutions that the University of London is competing with. Moreover, residents in the intercollegiate halls can be relatively disadvantaged by the geographical and organisational remoteness of their college welfare services, unions, and health centres – especially those from smaller colleges or colleges outside of central London. I believe a robust pastoral and social support system within the halls, led by wardens, compensates for this.

We have been greatly encouraged by support from doctors, counsellors, chaplains, and other bodies involved in student support, as well as many students, hall residents, neighbourhood groups, and local councillors. Almost 1,000 people have signed an online petition (petition.hallwardens.org) supporting the wardens, and many students and their parents have written to the University (mail@hallwardens.org) to express their opposition to the cuts. A Facebook group (group.hallwardens.org) and Twitter profile (@SaveTheWardens) have been set up by hall residents.

The University’s consultation on this proposal ends on Friday 17 June and the Vice-Chancellor’s Executive Group will make a decision on 29 June. I hope your readers will agree with me that they should reject the proposed cuts and look instead for positive ways of creating more student accommodation in London.

Yours faithfully

Adrian Clark
Warden, Connaught Hall

The future of student support in halls of residence

On 9 May 2011, the University of London informed Wardens that it intends to make significant cuts to the student support service in the halls of residence: it proposes to make all Wardens and Vice-Wardens redundant, and for the management of Senior Members to be transferred to the residences administration staff, who have no background, experience, or interest in dealing with social, welfare, community, or disciplinary matters.

I believe the University's proposal is wrong and dangerous. I think it threatens the very healthy and enjoyable community and social life from which intercollegiate halls residents currently benefit, and may be harmful to the welfare of more vulnerable students.

This is at a time when Hall fees are set to rise by well above inflation next year, and English students will soon start paying up to £9,000 for their tuition. If next year's residents can expect not to be supported by a Warden, and not have a thriving Residents' Club and vibrant Hall community, why should they pay even more than they pay this year? And why should next year's freshers not be given the opportunity to apply for a Hall like Connaught Hall - different in so many ways from the accommodation provided by UCL, Kings, LSE, etc.?

Students should expect more choice, more support, and better value for money. Removing the Wardens diminishes all three.

For the sake of future generations of students, I believe we must fight against the University's proposals.

At www.connaught-hall.org.uk/support.pdf you can find a full-colour booklet explaining the University’s proposals and exactly what it will mean for future residents of Connaught Hall.

If you agree with me that Wardens add something distinctive, useful, and desirable to the student experience in the intercollegiate halls, please act now: send an email expressing your support to mail@hallwardens.org. Also, please sign the online petition at http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gopetition.com%2Fpetitions%2Fpetition-to-oppose-the-re-structuring-of-the-pastoral-s.html&h=d6700.

Parents - especially those of international students - often are relieved to find there is someone in Hall to look after their sons & daughters as they leave home for the first time, so please ask your parents to write in, and to sign the petition, too.

There isn't much time: the University proposes to wipe away formal student support in the halls of residence by the end of this academic year, and the final decision will be made before the end of May. Please help us to persuade them that they are wrong.

I will continue to fight tirelessly for what I believe is the right level of student support in the halls of residence. I will be very grateful if I can count on your support.

Remember to visit www.connaught-hall.org.uk/support.pdf for more detail and a guide to how you can help. Also review my letter to Dame Jenny Abramsky, the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the University of London, at www.connaught-hall.org.uk/abramsky-letter.pdf.