by Bethany Rielly
News Reporter

SCORES more university students have vowed to withhold rent payments as anger grows at the prospect of forking out hundreds of pounds a week for empty rooms during the new lockdown. 

Rent strike organisers told the Morning Star that they had seen sign-ups “skyrocket” since Boris Johnson’s announcement of a third national lockdown. 

The Prime Minister failed to mention universities in his televised address, so students had to turn to the government website to find out that they would not be returning to campuses in the new term, with the exception of certain subject groups. 

Thousands of students across 31 universities, including two new campaigns in the last week, have already pledged to withhold rent in January amid growing frustration at heavy-handed lockdowns and the scarcity of face-to-face tuition.

Emerson Murphy, a rent strike organiser at University of London (UoL) intercollegiate halls, told the Star that students are “really angry,” both with the PM’s sudden announcement and university bosses. 

“We’re in a pandemic. They are profiting off students who can’t even use the rooms they are paying hundreds of pounds a week for,” he said. 

“So people are really angry and we saw that reflected in our sign-ups for the rent strike last night … this, I reckon, was the catalyst for a load of people to think this is just ridiculous. 

Overnight, about 30 students pledged to withhold rent, bringing the total to around 130.

UoL rent strikers are also calling on the university to scrap proposals to charge them interest on arrears accumulated through the rent strike. 

Juno, a rent strike organiser at King’s College London who spoke under a pseudonym, said that the campaign had accumulated 150 pledges within 48 hours but “anticipates that will grow exponentially between now and the return to student accommodations.”

Juno told the Star that Monday’s announcement makes the “need for a rent strike … more pressing than ever.

“In the last 24 hours even, students have taken to social media to voice their outcry about what is a barbaric practice of restricting us from our accommodations that we are paying for at universities.”

The campaign is the latest to join the nationwide university rent strike, the biggest in over 40 years, with groups calling for rent reductions of between 30 to 50 per cent for the year. 

A representative from Oxford Cut the Rent, who asked not to be named, said: “We’ve gone from another 50 sign-ups in the last day, so yes, it’s very much skyrocketing.

“People are not enjoying uncertainty and want to get involved in a campaign that represents their interests.” 

The campaigner told the Star that students are “very confused, anxious, frustrated, which makes a lot of sense with the ambiguity around everything.” 

UCU general secretary Jo Grady described the shift to online teaching at universities as a “victory” for the union but condemned ministers for announcing the decision in a “chaotic manner.” 

She said: “Yet again, ministers have failed to prioritise education, and the chaotic way Boris Johnson has told institutions to move online has left staff and students in limbo. 

“It is unacceptable for the government to ask staff and students to go onto college campuses this week for BTEC exams when we are in a national lockdown and when GCSE and A-level exams are likely to be cancelled.

“Nor should university students be made to pay rent for accommodation they cannot use.”