2009/10 Week 18

Page 1

ELECTIONS

VIEW R E T IN

MUSIC

Guild Elections

Alan Pownall

Centre pull-out

Page 17

582 Powerless Students

ARTS

Dita Von Teese Page 26

Monday February 22 2010 Week 18

Free and Impartial. Your paper, your views, your voice.

In this issue

»

Exeposé

RVIEW E T N I

Large-scale power cut across Birks Grange, Moberly House and Duryard sees hundreds of first-year students evacuated in safety fears

Rachel Bayne Reporter

HUNDREDS of students living in Birks and Moberly were evacuated following a serious power cut caused by nearby building works. The 582 first-year students were told that they had to evacuate the area that afternoon when power was cut between 11:30am and 10pm on Tuesday February 16. Builders had damaged the main power cable which provides electricity to Birks, and so without functioning fire alarms or lights the buildings were deemed unsafe by University officials. The power cut affected the entire Birks and Moberly site, including the hospitality facilities and surrounding buildings. The cut also affected Duryard. The hundreds of affected residents were moved to Holland Hall for the evening meal, effectively doubling the number of students eating there. One Holland Hall resident commented that it was, “a difficult situation for everyone involved.” Birks and Moberly residents received compensation for their loss of rooms. The Guild arranged £10 vouchers for the Ram or the Lemmy. Members of the Students’ Guild stayed on campus after hours to ensure the welfare of the affected students. Matt Richards, Guild Welfare and Equal Opportunities Officer, said that “The Ram/Lemmy voucher system seemed to work well, although this was of course making the best of a worse situation. The Guild will be following this issue up with the University.” The students were able to return to their halls of residence when a generator was turned on at 10pm that evening. However, power was not fully restored until the following morning. Harry Wingfield, Birks Hall President, said, “The situation is

Features interview journalist Patrick Cockburn about his travels in the Middle East and discuss the use of CCTV

Lifestyle meet a selection of Exeter's student 582 Birks and Moberly residents were evacuated after a power cut caused by nearby construction. Photo by Adam Walmesley.

regrettable. Campus Service staff have been very quick to try to provide a short term solution. However, I hope that the University is being truthful when they wish to further address the issue of negligence from Cowlin’s Constructions.” Geoff Pringle, Director of Campus Services, said that the University would deal with the issue. “We have apologised to the students for the inconvenience caused and will be taking up this issue with the contractors at the highest level. We would also like to thank students for their patience.” At the time of this going to print, no representative of the building contractor Cowlin’s was available for comment. Nick Vines, a resident of Birks, commented that it was a “ridiculous” event as “not only do we have to put up with the building work, but we

have to deal with their mistakes.” Damian Jeffries, Moberly President, praised the efforts of University staff to ensure the welfare of affected students.

“Living in Birks is difficult in the current conditions” Richard Stearn, Guild President

He said that, “The efforts made by staff were highly commendable. The question does remain however as to why we should be in such a situation in the first place. It only strengthens our argument that our fees should be reduced to last year’s levels due to degradation in quality of life. The statement originally given

to students on arrival that only ‘some disruption’ would be caused is clearly an understatement, and should be addressed.” Students ask now for an apology from the builders and some argue that “further compensation is necessary.” Richard Stearn, Guild President, conceded that, “Living at Birks is difficult in the current conditions. The University is working hard to mitigate the effects of the building work but this episode will be seen by many as another page in a catalogue of disruptions.” The construction work in the Birks Grange area is part of a development to create 844 new rooms accross ten new residency blocks. The scheme is funded by private student residency firm University Partnerships Program (UPP). Construction was started in June 2009 and is not expected to finish until September 2011.

entrepreneurs and research the potentially dangerous trend of legal highs

SCreen reflect on the difficulty of representing sport in films and attempt to persuade you to give recent release Valentine's Day a miss


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.