Hertford Principal demands student rooms
The new Principal of Hertford College has demanded eight undergraduate rooms for his own lodging, which means more finalists will have to live off the college site. The eight rooms at the top of staircase OB6 will be annexed to expand the size of the Principal’s in-college accommodation. This was one of the conditions new Principal John Landers set out before agreeing to take up the post next academic year.
The rooms were originally part of the Principal’s lodging but the current Principal, Sir Walter Bodmer, allowed them to be used to provide in-college accommodation for finalists as he did not use his allocated rooms for living in. Landers’ plans to reside in college next year and so will require the rooms for his personal use. In return for this, he proposes to rent out his own house and give the rent money to the college.
JCR Food and Housing representative Rémi Jaffre told The Oxford Student: “He [Landers] is just reclaiming his due in a way. Obviously we’re not thrilled by this, but it’s fair enough and there’s not much we can do.” Hertford College, which currently guarantees accommodation to all undergraduates, is buying additional accommodation in the Folly Bridge area to ensure that there is no overall loss of rooms.
There is a list of 40 students who do not yet know which annex they will be living in, room allocation being dependent on the number of new first years admitted. The list has been lengthened this year because of the eight fewer rooms available in college. It is thought that a proportion of these students will opt to live out rather than risk finding themselves housed at distance from their friends.
26th May 2005