06/01/2021
Now a new lockdown is upon us, the strictest since March, new demands specific to the situation are required to protect the wellbeing of students. Our rent strike will also have to be delayed by these changes, to maximise the effectiveness, hence we will withhold rent for Trinity Term when there are many more of us to do so. These demands are:
Cut the Rent
Cut Unfair Fees
Protect Students
Protect Workers
End the Blame
The graphics below give more information of what these demands look like (plain text version in the comments)
link to signup: https://forms.gle/x8ZkfzULsGfWun1N7
Given the new lockdown, and the many changes in both student life and university policy, we’ve decided to make a few changes in response. The following should cover all of this, for those wanting to know why!
Response to feedback:
We have changed and streamlined our demands in response to some of the feedback we have received and hope this makes our points clearer. We are an evolving, adapting movement and we want to show that we can adjust to the needs of the students we represent when organising this rent strike. We actively encourage all to get involved, particularly if you think there are things we can improve upon!
College specificity:
These are also general demands that can be tailored to the situations of individual colleges as we are fighting this battle against 36 different landlords rather than 1. Some colleges may have less of an issue with securisation and overly punitive fines than others and we want our movement to reflect the complexity of issues at a collegiate university. As a university wide campaign we will try and negotiate these demands with the Vice Chancellor and the top of university management. However, demands like rent reduction will have to come from college based campaigns, which we put all of our support behind! This uni-wide movement gives the ability to connect sign-ups at the same college and precipitate these college based movements.
No Demand is an add-on:
No demand is simply an add-on. Our demands are interconnected and a rent strike gives an opportunity to bring forth issues previously ignored by university management. It gives us an opportunity to reshape our university experience for the better. We have to demand that workers be protected as well as students as we are all victims of the running of universities like businesses. Putting student welfare first is more than just rent reduction, it involves mental health support, no additional unjust fees, and making sure that the enforcement of covid policies is not policed in a way that dehumanises students. This is not a call for students to behave without consequences but that we be treated with respect when we all try to simply get through this pandemic. Withholding rent and denying giving the university and colleges money is the most powerful thing we can do as students. It is the only way to get university management to take us and our needs seriously. We as students deserve better. By withholding rent, we hope to achieve what campaigns without this financial power have struggled to do. The university simply cannot afford to ignore us.
Strikers Safety:
We want to reassure students that withholding is safe to do. There is safety in numbers with no strikers across all other university rent strikes being punished, including those in Manchester who withheld rent and occupied an administrative building. Furthermore, some students on bursaries may worry that there would be repercussions with regards to them, so they may rightfully be concerned about whether they can participate in the strike itself, but we are not alone in this! The University of Bristol, who are currently experiencing a similar rent strike, have attempted to withdraw bursaries from those participating. The result of this threat was an almost immediate backing down in response to student and media pressure, in order to avoid significant harm to its international reputation. Rent striking is both safe and effective! In order for students to be put above profit, a rent strike must occur!
Join us and sign up!
Oxford, Cut the Rent
