Campaign for a Common Room
Langwith has almost everything: great bedrooms, a quality bar and York’s best students. Being on the ‘wasteland’ that is Hes East, we also have plenty of room to breathe. Surrounded by all this unused land it seems ridiculous that we’re still fighting for space; with events, meetings and basic socialising all struggling to find a venue. Langwithians must resort to invading academic lobbies and occupying the common rooms of other colleges like unwanted squatters.
“The #1 priority is getting Langwith a common room – we are the only college without one”
- @LangwithSA
As the only college without a common room or space of our own we’re at a major disadvantage. We're one of the only colleges to run clubs of our own but as you may have experienced we have no convenient place to hold these meetings. The Glasshouse, although cherished, provides a lively bar environment which is not comfortable for everyone and is unsuitable for more serious meetings. It’s also impractical for some of our events, such as the highly successful Free Food Thursdays.
Currently our only options are sharing Goodricke's space and trekking over to Law and Management. Obviously our access to these areas is limited and it isn't fair to force them to accommodate us when they have their own needs. It’s time to take action. Our campaign begins in earnest on Monday. We're holding our Student Association meeting in Derwent’s common room to highlight that we have nowhere of our own. If this doesn't work, we have plans to take our campaign further.
We feel these are the actions that must be taken to begin the process of supplying us with our own space. The Langwith Student Association is collaborating with the college staff who entirely agree that Langwith needs a common room. Last year our campaigns team (Symone Thompson and Tim Monk) received the compensation our students deserved for accommodation troubles and we're determined to repeat our record of getting Langwithians what they deserve.
Living in Langwith means we’re unable to miss the constant construction involved in creating Constantine College. It’s difficult to watch so much money being put into the university’s expansion whilst our existing college is lacking vital facilities. Dr Jane Grenville, Deputy Vice Chancellor, has told us that she has "no objection" to converting underused space in to a common room in principle, but nothing has been done or planned in concrete to sort it out.
We believe the process is stuck in the university bureaucracy and needs a firm nudge to kick-start action because in the meantime we as students are missing out. Langwith Student Association has been reaching out via twitter to influential people across the university, gaining the support of Careers, Accommodation Services and the YUSU sabbs. Dan Whitmore, YUSU Academic Officer, agreed that we “shouldn’t have to” rely on academic departments for space and is now in conversation with our President Symone Thompson about the possibility of converting an underused bike shed.
It’s encouraging to already be seeing a positive response from those who can make a difference, but we can’t stop now. You can get involved in helping our campaign by tweeting @LangwithSA with #LCR . Tell us why a common room would benefit you.
We don't feel like we're asking for the world. We just think our students deserve the same facilities as every other college.
Langwith Love - Olivia and Aimee
