In a press statement released today, President of the UCD Students’ Union, Joanna Siewierska “expressed fury at the decision to increase campus rents by 4% year on year for the next 3 years, and a premium of €1,000 on average for the 1,000 newly built student bedrooms.”
The statement went on to say “this decision was made yesterday behind closed doors by the University Management Team (UMT), with zero consultation with any student representatives. The SU is calling for an immediate reversal of this decision.”
Siewierska called out UMT, saying “students are already being locked out of education by the housing crisis. We are seeing fewer and fewer students from outside of Dublin choosing to study in UCD, and little or no increase in students from lower socio-economic backgrounds coming to our University. This decision by UCD Management shows that they don’t care about this reality.” She went on to say “the welfare of students and ensuring access to education for all is a secondary concern, at best.”
UMT is among many boards in UCD that have been criticised for their lack of student input. The SU have been more vocal in recent weeks in their criticism of UCD. Siewierska criticised UCD’s “profit-driven decision making mindset.”