{"id":81176,"date":"2017-10-23T09:57:33","date_gmt":"2017-10-23T07:57:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=81176"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:52","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:52","slug":"euc-students-complain-about-inconvenience-in-their-allocated-accommodation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2017\/10\/23\/euc-students-complain-about-inconvenience-in-their-allocated-accommodation\/","title":{"rendered":"EUC students complain about inconvenience in their allocated accommodation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Entrance to EUC accommodation LUCIA. On the door it says: "Welcome class of <\/span><\/p>

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The student accommodation for first years at Erasmus University College (EUC) is still unfinished. Many of the students still can\u2019t move into their rooms. This week, they\u2019re moving from their cruise ship<\/a> to a hotel. And also for the students who are already living there, it still doesn\u2019t feel like home: \u201cThe builders start drilling at 7.00 a.m. and come into the rooms without asking.\u201d<\/p>\n

The building at Stadhuisplein 30, opposite the Skihut, could be a fantastic place. But there\u2019s still a long way to go. The hall is totally empty and bare, except for a noticeboard and a large table. Builders walk up and down the stairs and there\u2019s protective plastic everywhere. On every floor, there are signs with jokey texts: \u201cPlease don\u2019t mind the mess. Your shower should work fine<\/em>.\u201d And on the third floor, next to Faye Overbeek\u2019s room (18, Singapore), a decorator is painting the wall along the corridor black.<\/p>\n

Snacking in students' rooms<\/h3>
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Sign with jokey text on the third floor of the LUCIA building.<\/span><\/p>

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\u201cI told Wolf, which rents out the rooms in LUCIA, that I didn\u2019t want builders coming into my room without asking,\u201d says Faye. \u201cI\u2019ve already moved all my valuable things here. Wolf said that they\u2019d take that into account, but I frequently find builders in my room when I come back from lectures.\u201d<\/p>\n

These builders not only enter the students\u2019 rooms without asking and at random times of the day, they also behave inappropriately, according to Gaia Poloni (18, Italy): \u201cBuilders who are installing something in my room often use my toilet without asking and on several occasions they\u2019ve even eaten food that was in my room.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well informed<\/h3>

EUC dean, Maarten Frens, doesn\u2019t think that EUC can do much for the students. \u201cWe have two Student Life Officers\u00a0<\/em>who can help students in the student complex when necessary,\u201d says Frens. \u201cBut we are limited in what we can do: we\u2019re not the owner, the landlord or even the contractor.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also feels that the students were well informed in advance: \u201cThey knew that work would be continuing on the fifth and sixth floors and all the rooms were more or less finished on 1 September. There\u2019s also a code of conduct for the builders and any complaints should be submitted to the landlord Wolf.\u201d<\/p>\n

Late responses <\/h3>
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Emma van der Saag in her room.<\/span><\/p>

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However, Faye\u2019s room wasn\u2019t completely finished on 1 September, she says. \u201cMy bed is suspended from the ceiling and hadn\u2019t yet been fixed when I moved into my room, so I couldn\u2019t sleep there for three nights. The room was also very dusty and messy and my central heating didn\u2019t work. In fact it still isn\u2019t working.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the students were only told that refurbishment work would be continuing on the fifth and sixth floors, says Faye. They didn\u2019t know that the corridors and communal areas would also be filled with building tools and construction workers. The students also claim that their complaints are often ignored or that they only receive very late responses. For example Emma van der Saag (18) from Belgium: \u201cMy toilet wasn\u2019t working and although I received answers to my many e-mails, it took a whole week before someone came along to repair it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Complaints taken seriously<\/h3>

Marlou Snelders, project manager with the construction company Wolf (the owner and landlord of LUCIA), explains that the whole building must be finished by the end of the year. \u201cIt took much longer than planned, due to delays on various fronts: delivery time delay, unforeseen circumstances and various teething problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also admits that communication to students has not always been as it should have been: \u201cIn the first month after the students moved in (September), the building itself was everyone\u2019s top priority and there were long delays in handling complaints. Over the past month, that\u2019s improved: we now always respond within two days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Snelders feels that the one-off \u20ac200 rent discount offered to students is sufficient compensation: \u201cNow that we are taking all their complaints seriously, the students will be much more positive. And this situation is something we have to resolve together, so we might as well be friendly to each other and listen to each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Refurbishment of LUCIA building at Stadhuisplein 30.<\/span><\/p>

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