Post 8 of 10 – The Big Taboo – RHUL Business & Politics
So why is student ASB such a difficult topic to talk about?
These I think are the two main reasons….
RHUL is a big business. (Total income YE July 2021 was £190m.) It is an important employer in the area, employing 1,744 people directly. If you then consider contractors, the auxiliary workers and the supply chain, this number probably increases by a factor of 4 or more. And when you consider the businesses around the area whose target client is the student: the restaurant, the barber, the pub, the landlord, the taxi driver etc, this only highlights RHUL’s importance in the community further. Many people’s livelihoods are dependent on RHUL.
The other big one is house prices. I think residents are worried that talking about this subject will affect the value of their home. And I can understand that – nothing quite like talking down the place where you have your major asset. (I smiled to myself when Englefield Green was voted one of the best places to live in the UK by the Sunday Times back in April. Well not so much to the article but one of the first public online posts – it didn’t take long for its students to get a mention.)
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/why-englefield-green-surrey-best-place-to-live-uk-cm7z9g80m
So if those are the two main reasons, I can understand why some people may find it difficult talking about student ASB/ RHUL openly.
But why are some of the most influential people in our community silent on this topic? Indeed, why do some actively condone student ASB by refusing to acknowledge that it is even taking place or similarly belittling it. This I don’t understand.
I do recognise that politics comes into play though: I recognise that some councillors may be pro-RHUL in light of it being a major employer but to give them carte blanche on all matters – really?
Councillors; if you agree as I am sure you would that ASB is not acceptable, why is ASB caused by students acceptable? Can you not stand up and represent the local residents too for an issue that is affecting their quality of life?
Or would you in fact prefer residents to leave the area as many already have? By not tackling student ASB, you surely recognise that more families will move away, including those that work for RHUL. That these houses will more likely than not be turned into HMO; the fly wheel will gather more momentum: more student ASB, more families leave. A downward spiral for everyone concerned including the majority of students who want peace and quiet to study.
I am not against RHUL or tertiary education – I am definitely not anti-student. I just want a solution to what I think is a relatively easy problem to fix. Please, pretty please, with sugar on top, help.
If you have recently joined or have not done so already, please consider sharing the link with friends and neighbours who might be interested in joining this campaign.
Many thanks for being part of this campaign,
A Gnat
Post 8a of 10 – Freshers’ Ball | Saturday 24th Sept
This post was not planned but has come about following a circular that was hand-posted to some households last week….
The circular was from RHUL’s Student Union about its upcoming Freshers’ Ball that is taking place tomorrow, Saturday 24th. (A copy of the circular follows this post.)
There is a lot of information in this letter. I would like to highlight a couple of points…
First, if you do think that the noise from the event is too excessive, please do call RHUL Campus Security and hopefully some remedial action will occur on the night. But please also send a complaint to community@rhul.ac.uk and copy in Andrea. By doing this your complaint will then be logged. (Please see Post 5 on how to report ASB.)
RHUL’s Community Team has a reporting category, ‘Events’. If you log a complaint with them it will then be recorded and it will form part of the statistics. If you only call RHUL Campus Security, the complaint is unlikely to be recorded and it will not form part of the statistics. The impact of the event would therefore be understated. (It would also not be shared with the Police or Runnymede Borough Council.)
Second, the circular does not mention how to report any student ASB that may occur as a result of this event. If you do experience any student ASB please report it to community@rhul.ac.uk and also copy in Andrea. (Please do not report it to RHUL Campus Security. It would almost definitely not be recorded.)
Having all student ASB logged in one place, with RHUL’s Community Team, will help all parties (RHUL, Resident Associations, Runnymede Borough Council and the Police) have an accurate picture of student ASB in the community.
For clarity, I am sure there are no dark forces at work: I am sure that the Security Team is the best placed team to deal with managing any excessive noise on the night. Similarly, I am sure the Student Union decided not to include a line or two on how to report student ASB as they simply felt it unnecessary.
I think though that it was a great opportunity missed by them to communicate to the local residents that RHUL does take student ASB seriously. By not promoting the official reporting channel for student ASB in the circular it feels like they are trying to skirt the subject by brushing it under the carpet.
Next week’s Post co-incidentally looks at other measures that could be explored to help resolve student ASB in the community – and one of these looks at how RHUL’s Security Team could theoretically form part of the solution.
On a separate note, how’s the reporting going?
The new WhatsApp group, RH Antisocial Behaviour, highlighted late night noise from a HMO in Englefield Green last week. The house was reported multiple times to RHUL by a number of its neighbours. To join the conversation/ follow the conversation you can follow this Link.
https://chat.whatsapp.com/BQmFKEHSa6gLsU55FU8QxN
Personally, we have experienced two incidents so far – both transient noise related. In one case, I am pretty sure I knew the household the students belonged to and advised RHUL as much. Hopefully some of my neighbours reported the same incident so that my report could be substantiated and some action (albeit probably ineffective action) taken. The reports made though will have helped the overall statistics.
Finally, a couple of residents have asked that the reporting phase of the campaign be extended by a couple of weeks in order to illustrate the impact of Wednesday nights. (Wednesday nights is when RHUL’s Sports Clubs usually meet and student ASB increases.) In light of me getting the start date wrong by a week for the reporting phase of this campaign (not sure how that happened, apologies) and that the clubs don’t really get going for a couple of weeks into term, I think this might be a good idea.
Many thanks again for being part of this campaign,
A Gnat