Katharine Jermyn Hall (KJ) residents who had to take shared rooms with bunk beds in February must now decide whether to pay $220 rent per week for their shared room in trimester two, or move to a single room in another hall.
Students in shared rooms were notified in March that they would be required to pay from trimester two.
VUWSA Welfare Vice President Rory Lenihan-Ikin said that having settled in at KJ, moving to another hall would be “really unsettling for students”. “Establishing good friend groups in first year is hard enough to do once, let alone having to repeat it all over again.”
He added, “having made the mistake that caused this situation, it is unfair of the university to now give students this ultimatum.”
KJ resident David Kim, a victim of bunk bed gate, told Salient about his experience. An email before move-in “beckoned my agreement to a shared space where I would sleep and do things I wouldn’t normally be comfortable doing next to another person.”
While stoked about the free trimester of accommodation, he misses his alone time.
“Everything about me is under the scrutiny of some other person, whether it be my collection of Death Grips merchandise, the things I say in my sleep, or my meme-browsing habit.”
“The only truly terrible thing about sharing a room here at KJ is the fact that I rarely get naked time where I can be fully undressed in a carpeted environment,” Kim reflected.