188 students against SiT
Exchange students are protesting against moving from Berg studentby, and say they have not been well enough informed by SiT.
Exchange student Olivier Dercq received an e-mail from SiT on October 2nd, regarding that he had to move out from his apartment at Berg studentby.
– They told me I had to move out before October 10th, and that I had been given a new place to live at Moholt studentby. I had one week to sign the contract and move out. I hadn’t got information about this earlier, he tells us.
Dercq reacts on the fact that SiT doesn’t have to follow the same rules it expects the exchange students to follow.
– If we want to change our contracts, we have to contact the resident assistant at least one month ahead. Why should we accept that they only give us a couple of days to move, Dercq asks.
There is a majority of exchange students living at Berg studentby. The inhabitants have all been aware that Berg is to be demolished in November, and have therefore only got contracts till November 15th. But now the students have been told that they have to move out earlier than that if they want a new housing offer from SiT.
Petition
Sunna Everling is very displeased with this. She has started a petition against moving from the studentby. It has gotten 188 signatures so far.
Everling thinks that they information they have received from SiT has been insufficient.
– We were invited to a meeting with SiT before the semester started, and then they told us that some of us might have to move before the contract ended. But they didn’t know when, who it concerned, or where they would have to move, she says.
Olivier Dercq still thinks that the inhabitants were ensured that they didn’t have to move until November 15th.
– SiT changes the information all the time, he claims.
Cheap housing
Berg has some of the cheapest student housing, and the price difference is part of the reason why the exchange students want to live there as long as possible. The students can continue to live at Berg after they have gotten another place to live by SiT, but then they have to pay for both places.
– We, as exchange students, can’t afford that, says Dercq.
Some have already moved out, others are still waiting on e-mails and aren’t sure when they will have to move, or if they wil get a new place to live at all.
– SiT informed us that they are about 15 rooms short, and that some of us might be homeless when we have to move out. That we received this information this late is unacceptable. SiT has given us a bad impression of Norway, says Dercq.
- Not easy to give information
Cathrine Kristiansen, responsible for house rentals at SiT, has been responsible for a lot of the information distribution to the residents at Berg. She is aware of the petition.
– Several of the names on the list are people that have received offers from us and say they are content with that, and have gone with the flow. It seems like someone has engaged a lot of people, and made a bigger deal out of this that necessary, she says.
Kristiansen tells us that housing manager Synnøve Våbenø personally went to Berg to talk with the students. But SiT takes self-criticism since the information could have been better; obviously a lot of people didn’t receive the message.
– We see that many students don’t receive information when it is given, and that this might be the reason why they feel we haven’t given sufficient information, she says.
Confronted with the comments from one of the students Under Dusken has spoken with, that still hasn’t received an offer, Kristiansen claims that this is the only student that has not received an offer from SiT.
She says that they have received few complaints from the students.
– For the second time around, we are prioritizing the exchange students over the Norwegian students. As we all know, it is hard to find housing in Trondheim, says Kristiansen.
