Student halls pick the coolest students

Until now, student residences in Copenhagen have sifted out the 'coolest' students. This has to stop, says politician Manu Sareen

by Luci Ellis

Rooms in halls of residence in Copenhagen are allocated based on subjective and discriminatory criteria, since the individual dorms process student's applications themselves. Social Liberal Party (R) politician Manu Sareen now calls for reforms to ensure a fairer distribution of dorm rooms, writes the Danish website dr.dk.

"I am shocked at the conditions, where certain halls of residence distingish between 'the cool' and 'the uncool' students. It really is over the top, that students have to qualify by selling themselves in just the right way," says Manu Sareen.

Read about protests against the lack of student housing in Copenhagen here.

Sareen has suggested that Halls of Residence should no longer be allowed to allot rooms and process applications themselves.

Call for fairer criteria

He proposes that an independent body, like the one that already exists in Denmarks second-largest city Århus, should process applications based on a set of predetermined, and fair, criteria.

A number of other political parties in the City Hall have backed the suggestion.

Read about international students' problems finding housing here.

Under the current system, students in Copenhagen can apply for a room in a hall of residence via two different organisations. Some residence halls are separate from these two systems.

Student body demands change

The student organisation The National Union of Students in Denmark (DSF) is also angered by the unfair room allocations.

"There is not equal access for all students at the moment. It is more difficult to get a place at a central and attractive dorm, and this is very discriminatory. This must be changed right now, as the problem with too little accommodation for students is getting worse," says Laura Toftegaard Pedersen, vice-chairperson of DSF in an interview with the Danish daily Urban.

luci@adm.ku.dk

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