Supporting students is important to all of us at RSU, especially Joshua, your President. Read about what he has been working on in his first few months with at Roehampton Students' Union.
Dear Roehampton Dreamers,
What a pleasure to write to you once again. I hope that you have all been enjoying your summer holiday and that you are in high spirits to resume for the next academic year starting this September - just as we are at the Students’ Union to welcome you all to campus! Know that whatever dreams you bear coming to Roehampton, the Union is here to support you every step of the way to make your dream come true.
So, what’s up?
Freshers’ Festival
As you already know, Freshers Season is upon us! And I’m happy to update you that the entire team at RSU has been working tirelessly to put together exciting events and activities to ensure you all have an amazing fresh start on campus. Starting with a roll-out of our Phase 1 events for Freshers Festival which include:
- Move-In Ice Breaker – Sunday, 21 September
- Freshers’ Fair – Tuesday, 23rd September
- House Party Wednesday Kick-off – Wednesday, 24th September
- Freshers’ Boat Party – Thursday 25th September
- London Freshers’ Party (Lightbox) – Monday 29th September
Some are free to attend while others are ticketed. More details about these events and tickets are available here.
Affordable Housing on Campus
During RSU election campaigns back in February, part of my manifesto was that we will lobby with the university to create more affordable accommodation options by introducing a bunkbed/room sharing option for students to pair and stay in a room, making it easier to pay for these rooms. I am happy to bring to your notice that the university has now taken a step in this direction and is currently running a pilot of this shared room model and the first phase of the rooms are already fully booked! Details can be found here.
That’s not all. If successful, we will endeavour to encourage the university management to incorporate this shared accommodation model fully into the university future accommodation plans.
Accommodation Maintenance
In a quite productive meeting held with the University’s Director of Estates, we discussed the affordable housing matters and the concerns raised by students on accommodation maintenance on campus. He was happy to share that there are some measures that they are currently considering to increase capacity and improve maintenance experience for the students this new year. We shall be following up with the estates department from time to time and introduce some collaborative measures to deliver a better experience for the students’ community. Be rest assured that you all shall be carried along on any progress made.
National Campaign on Housing
We are working with NUS to make demands nationally for improved rental conditions for students across UK through the “Renters Rights Bill”. Our demands include:
- Abolish requirement for UK-based guarantors from student renters.
- Limit the amount of rent landlords can demand upfront to 1 month cap
- Ensure students are not excluded from “No-Fault Eviction Protections (Section 21)” which would protect students from being evicted disproportionately by landlords.
- Allow early accommodation Sign-On for renting seasons
- Strengthen eviction notice terms
Timely updates will be provided on this campaign as we make progress.
Free Buses for Under 22s!
The Transport Committee recently released a report that supports the provision of free bus travels for young people under the age of 22 across England! For this report to be adopted and implemented however, it needs more support from all MPs in the Parliament. This is why NUS is admonishing all students to send an email to their various MPs asking them to support this report. Follow this link (Free bus travel for young people - NUS UK) to confirm who your MP is and send them a copy of the drafted email.
Let’s draw the curtain here for now. Till next time I write to you, engage, connect and drink some coffee 😊
Love,
Joshua Kayode,
RSU President.