Students at Victoria University’s Weir House had to dine in tent on ‘barely edible’ food

Students paying $17,500 each year to live in Weir House were shocked to arrive to major construction and a marquee on the lawn that would serve as their dining room.

Stella Beattie, a resident at the Victoria University of Wellington hall, said only 60 students could fit in the chilly tent at a time.

“The wind came in, the rain came in, there was no protection from it,” Beattie said.

Meals were prepared at other halls and provided to Weir House students in takeaway containers, prepackaged and often cold by the time they were served. “It was pretty miserable to be honest,” she said.

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The heat has been on Victoria University after a Covid outbreak earlier in the year – halls provided inadequate food to students who were self-isolating, a parent said at the time.

Residents were told about the construction on January 31, two weeks before they moved into the hall. “We got here and there was construction everywhere and a massive tent on the front lawn,” Beattie said.

Weir House had no dining room for the first six weeks of the university year. Students living in the main block continue to suffer from disruptive noise and a lack of privacy due to construction work.

Student magazine Salient brought the issues to light in an article where one resident described their struggle to complete an online therapy session over the noise of construction. Students also reported that it was hard to focus on classes or study from their rooms.

Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington acting chief operating officer Simon Johnson said the university was making the main building weather-tight, and at the start of the year demolished one wing of the hall. There are plans for a “comprehensive redevelopment” of Weir House which will be completed over the next few years.

After residents’ meetings, the Weir House students sent two open letters to Rainsforth Dix, director of campus living, outlining their concerns at the “very disheartening” situation. They complained about problems, including the “barely edible” food, the cold marquee, mould in Andrea Brander house, and disruptive construction.

The letters outlined how students in the main building were woken by the banging of construction noises.

Throughout the day construction workers on the scaffolding outside their windows would ask them to open or shut their windows and move items from their windowsills. This escalated from “an inconvenience” to “a complete invasion of resident privacy”, they said.

Johnson acknowledges the construction work had been disruptive for residents. “We have met and discussed this matter with Weir House student representatives and have now reached a resolution regarding compensation for this disruption,” he said.

In response, the university has provided credit for one week’s rent, or $473.

“We’re not being fairly compensated,” Beattie said, adding that the university had not yet acknowledged or compensated students for what they allege is unhealthy living conditions and mould.

Victoria University has not yet responded to the second letter, sent on August 10, asking for compensation because of “unhealthy” living conditions in Andrea Brander House – the second wing of Weir House. Residents complained of mould on their windowsills and severe health impacts.

Beattie wanted to make it clear the staff and head of Weir House itself were great and the hall was a fun place to live. “But there are all these issues and not many of the higher-ups are listening to us. There’s been a lack of communication.”