Post 7 of 10 – An Effective Student Conduct Policy & New WhatsApp
In the run up to this campaign starting, Andrea and I both noted that many residents that had reported student ASB to RHUL felt that little effective action had been taken to resolve their complaints satisfactorily. Indeed, many had given up reporting student ASB to RHUL because doing so felt futile.
In my case, each complaint made was followed up by the same generic response from RHUL – an email saying that they were sorry about the situation, that action was being taken, that the behaviour was an exception and that it should not occur again.
The outcome of each complaint was of course not satisfactory for me or my family as the action taken did not prevent future occurrences of ASB occuring.
At the end of this campaign, we will request a meeting with the new incoming Principal and present the evidence collected. We will explain that student ASB is a problem for the community. We will ask her to also recognise that RHUL’s current student conduct policy is completely ineffective in managing student ASB.
So what could an effective student conduct policy look like?
I believe that a 3 strike policy, delivered in a timely manner that is properly promoted and enforced by RHUL could be the solution. It would act as both a suitable deterrent and provide a satisfactory resolution for any household experiencing prolonged student ASB.
A conduct policy that incorporates tools such as fines, letter to personal tutors highlighting poor behaviour (that can be shared with future employers in the form of a reference), letter to managing agent/ landlord of student’s HMO requesting that they enforce the terms of their contract, community service, revocation of Student Union membership, temporary exclusion from their course and indeed removal from RHUL could all be considered. I am sure there are other ideas that could be suggested? An email to the student asking them politely to stop being antisocial is probably not going to cut it though.
The WhatsApp group that was mentioned in Post 1 is now up and running. You are invited to join this group too, ‘RH Antisocial Behaviour’. Here commenting has been turned on and a conversation can be had about any matter related to this subject.
‘The group was created to report antisocial behaviour from students, share RHUL responses and action (if any!) and also coordinate our own activities. Please feel free to invite in other residents that would be happy to participate in this group.’
This is the Link:
https://chat.whatsapp.com/BQmFKEHSa6gLsU55FU8QxN
If you have recently joined or have not done so already, please consider sharing the 100 Gnats Link with friends and neighbours who might be interested in this campaign.
And finally, please report any student ASB to RHUL on each occurrence. The new term starts on Monday 19th September with Welcome Week. (Students arrive officially from the 16th.)
Best,
A Gnat