Due to construction work, several student units at Uilenstede are cut off from water in their toilets and showers. Around fifty students have to share four portable toilets and two cold showers.
“I have an exam on Friday”, first-year student Frida Császár says. “I cannot study at home in these conditions.” Since last Wednesday, the Uilenstede unit where Császár lives has had no running water in the toilet and the shower.
Student housing organization Duwo provided portable toilets and showers, but the toilets are dirty and have no running water and no facility to wash your hands. Initially, there were four toilets for around fifty people that could not be flushed, but after complaints, Duwo placed eight toilets that can be flushed and they placed an emergency toilet inside, without doors.
Cold water
The portable showers have cold water only. The renovation affects a few dozen students, who will be in these conditions for at least ten days. After getting no response at the Duwo office on the Uilenstede campus, the residents sent a letter of complaint.
‘The stress and anxiety caused by these conditions are affecting our ability to focus on our studies’, they write, and: ‘The substandard living conditions have taken a significant toll on our mental health’.
Shower at the gym
Especially for students on their period these conditions are unacceptable, Császár states. She herself has been taking showers at the gym.
Császár read in her rental contract that Duwo has the right to carry out urgent repairs, which takes away the possibility to ask for a rent reduction. “But in the explanation letter it was not mentioned that this is an urgent repair. And it doesn’t look urgent to me.”
Noisy
It’s not only the poor sanitary conditions, but also the dust and the noise that make studying at home impossible in the units under construction. “They start at 7.45 in the morning and make a lot of noise”, Császár says. “On other days, they don’t work at all, which makes the duration of this renovation longer than necessary.”
The students fail to understand why these renovations have to take place now. “Most of us have just started our studies and we are working for our first exams. Duwo could have done this during summer”, Császár says.
Duwo was unreachable for comment. After a long wait, the phone connection was cut off.