Salient

2,4,6,8 - Why’s our Hostel in Such a State?

By Conrad Reyners | 20 Aug, 2008

How many builders does it take to fix a hostel? Fucking shit loads, apparently. And they haven’t been doing a very good job of it. Salient has been closely following the colossal fuck ups by Unicomm - the company (owned by ING) whose responsible for maintaining hostel facilities at McKenzies, Cumberland and Education house.

It seems like the students there have had enough. Not only are they fed up with the constant intrusion into their living spaces, by burly builders - but it seems that the promises given to them by management have been empty and vacuous.

There’s been no visible change in their living conditions, which according to eyewitness testimony, are pretty fucking dire. Here are some quotes from concerned students.

“I woke up to see my skylight missing and a builder staring at me through my roof, I was extremely uncomfortable so went and slept on the couch”

“they promised to have all the work done by the time we moved in.”

“my dad had to fly me home so i could study during study week it cost him almost $300. we are paying for a study environment that we arent getting.”

“exploding water tanks, exploding sewage pipes, the waterfall tourist attraction in MacKenzies”

“Leaking roofs and jackhammer wake ups.. gotta love it….. not!”

“Try fucking waking up at 6;30 in the morning to a crane outside your window when you have an early exam that morning!!! AGH”

“people are mean, living conditions are shit !!!!”

“There was also a mushroom growing out of the wall “

“Jackhammer……………cause it is a wonderful thing to wake up to in the morn!!!”

Usually, i’d tell these annoying whingy first years to suck it up. But then i realised they weren’t living in scummy Te Aro hovels, but in a commercial hospo enterprise - that really should be providing a better service. A substantially better one. I don’t know how these poor kiddos have managed so far - I cant study unless im in an isolation chamber, buried underground in a vacuum cave.

The straw has broken the proverbial camels back - as reported in last weeks eye on exec, students have taken the matter into their own hands - by getting out there to protest. Show your support, by turning up to the Student Union Building at 9.30am on Friday. It’s them vs the world (or just Unicomm). Go give em a hand.

Or, if you nosy enough to care, but too lazy to go - just check out their facebook or bebo pages.