15.12.1994

Student rent strike continues

NO RENTS have been paid this year by Bradford University students since the senior warden tried to put the rents up by between 7% and 12% in the halls of residence. Grants have been cut by 10% for the last two years, so students cannot afford even last year’s rents of between £285 to £541, let alone the increases.

The senate refused to negotiate till early December, but the students have refused to accept the chancellor’s miserable offer of a 1.5% reduction. The strike continues and new negotiations are planned, but it may be too late to resolve the issue before the end of this term.

Students from other universities have been in touch with Bradford over the possibility of taking similar action and Leeds University has just voted to withhold rents.

Bradford’s strike has shown that confrontation can work. The more organised, the more united the action is, the more successful it can be. Now that the government has forced colleges to compete with one another on the open market, students as consumers can subject them to market pressures.

Phil Kent