This academic year, while events outside of everyone's control have wildly changed the landscape of our education, I want to take a minute to think about the spaces that students inhabit. Moreover, the spaces that we do and don’t take up, and why.

It is no secret that students feel a little forgotten about in the scramble to find out when life will be going back to normal after the Covid-19 pandemic. But as with so much else, it isn’t necessarily the best option for things to just go back to the way that they were before the pandemic.

Increasingly across the UK, and certainly in Belfast, it seems like students are being relegated to the corners of public space, be it housing or campuses themselves.

This issue can come down to the smallest of things: think of the most relatable thing we all have in common right now, trying to make our little corner of Zoom look nice.

When our whole impression of someone else is dictated by this little square window into their surroundings, we can be quick to judge. We’ve all done it. Sometimes a cluttered background can give us a chaotic impression of even the most clearly put together lecture or conversation.

But do students really have much control over the spaces they are taking up?

Often, students are forced to live in rundown and small flats. In fact, the opposite is rare. The necessity of this is created by a combination of cost, landlord monopolies, and a captive market of students who have signed rental contracts in goodwill based on uncertainty.

What’s more, private student accommodation is often a complete lottery. This means that you have a situation where students are spending nearly all their time in student houses, combined with profit-hungry landlords who take advantage of the student population. This results in many students having no way to minimise the time they spend in often dangerously run-down properties.

It is also worth thinking about the disparity between these students stuck in low quality housing and students that have gotten the chance to return home to relative luxury. Of course, it is also a complicated situation and there are many barriers to students’ concentration at home.

We really just have to consider that students are living in very varying states of comfort and safety and are all expected to have the same mind space to dedicate to their studies.

Another thing to consider is that international students are experiencing this on top of the other challenges of living away from home.

Although it is only fair to mention that Queen’s has offered rent contracts to students with rooms in halls who return home, the students who have had no choice but to stay are essentially inhabiting a ghost town.

Even this semester, the university library is only open from 10am in the mornings, well past the time when many students will need to access that space for lectures.

Asymptomatic Covid testing is only available from 11 am in the morning. Other students have told me that the hours have restricted their willingness and ability to make use of these services, especially those who have to fit them around working hours. All of these are just some examples of how the physical space of campus facilities are restricted to some students.

The pandemic has further polarised the spaces that students do and don’t access on campus and has reinforced this. For example, unless they are part of a specific society or event, most students will never step foot into the main body of the Lanyon building, even though it is the iconic symbol of Queen’s.

It is no exaggeration to say that the spaces students are given can be a metaphor for how universities prioritize image and reputation over actual student welfare and experience.

OPINION - The Luxury of Space