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Original poster

Why are we okay with students being locked up in their dorms?

651 replies

JKRowlingIsMyQueen · 28/09/2020 19:05

I just heard about the students in Manchester who are not allowed to leave their dorms.

Why on earth is this allowed to happen? So the rest of us who are not students are allowed to get pissed in a pub, get on a plane and travel abroad and back etc., but if you are a student you are not allowed to LEAVE your dorms?

What science are these kind of rules following? The science of Boris needing more ammo to blame young people for spreading the virus?

I'm losing hope.

OP posts:
Dreamersandwishers · 28/09/2020 20:41

@IwishIwasyoda totally with you . The increased use of emergency legislation is very worrying.

Think we need some more rational and nuanced advice , not lowest common denominator thinking.
Phased returns should have been entirely possible. Starting with faculties which need lab time for example; let first years start from home etc.
My friend, a lecturer, discussed this with me in April. Our students have been badly let down,

cantkeepawayforever · 28/09/2020 20:41

Donna, I quote myself:

I do not support the return to university, and think students should have been allowed to study from home.

Fannybawz · 28/09/2020 20:41

How long are they isolating for? And why can’t they just be batch tested?! Nothing would stop me from going to collect my child.

Just watch: there will be demonstrations over this.

Purpleice · 28/09/2020 20:43

It’s an appalling situation. The students should be allowed home to continue their studies online. This is going to run for a while.

cantkeepawayforever · 28/09/2020 20:43

there was no restriction on them mingling within their halls when they arrived

So there WAS flouting of the national rule of 6?

Flouting doesn't have to be dramatic to spread Covid - just not enough social distancing, and too many people being in contact with one another.

Batshitbeautycosmeticsltd · 28/09/2020 20:43

@IwishIwasyoda

I am not OK with this nor with the increasing scapegoating of young people. I am not OK with the increasing tendency of Westminster and the Scottish Government to legislate, and the erosion of freedom of choice, freedom of speech and civil liberties in the name of 'suppressing Covid'

I am not a Covid-denier but I think all reason has been lost and it is an omnishambles. But this being Mumsnet I will be accused of being a Covid-denier, not caring about the vulnerable and being a selfish twat

And you are not alone.
CatAndHisKit · 28/09/2020 20:45

The ones who are locked in for two weeks are those where several people tested positive in that hall - it doesnt apply to all student halls!

But I agree that should be given an option to isolate for 2 wks at home together with the rest of household.

XingMing · 28/09/2020 20:45

I disgust you @Randomer, but why? My DS is 21: I had graduated at that age. I am not helicoptering over him. Why should I? He's an intelligent adult buying the education he wants for himself. Do be sensible; not all students are gently reared gels who need protection. He'll ask for help if he needs it.

CousinKrispy · 28/09/2020 20:45

The Department for Education needs to drop its requirement that students be given a mixture of online and in-person teaching and let universities adapt to the situation, let students move back home and carry out their studies online.

randomer · 28/09/2020 20:46

If that was my kid, I'd be in the car , bring them home or camp out somewhere. Disgusting.

I will be goin there tomorrow , pushing food through barred windows if needed.

PermanentMarkerSniffer · 28/09/2020 20:46

Completely agree with the majority of posters. It's totally and utterly outrageous, the erosion of basic rights is extremely worrying.

RufustheSniggeringReindeer · 28/09/2020 20:46

So there WAS flouting of the national rule of 6?

In the same way that if you live in a house with 6 other people that you too have ‘flouted’ the rules

Lots of students are in dorms or houses Of more than 6

Ds1 was when he was in halls, dd is in a house of 5 but her freind is in a house of 8

cantkeepawayforever · 28/09/2020 20:46

How long are they isolating for? And why can’t they just be batch tested?! Nothing would stop me from going to collect my child.

But you can't have it both ways - they are either an adult, who has made their own decision - and therefore reasonably has to take the consequences (DS would be in this category - his course cannot properly be studied remotely). Or they are a child who you 'cannot be stopped from picking up'.

We will pick DS up IF he becomes too ill to care for himself but does not need hospitalisation. Otherwise, with his complete agreement, he stays where he is.

Willow2017 · 28/09/2020 20:46

@JamieLeeCurtains

No, I'm not ok with this.

These 18 year olds were lured to these expensive halls under false preferences and locked up for the ££££ the universities need.

A lot of these room are tiny and claustrophobic. They have had their liberty taken away unlawfully.

Students are posting pictures of locked fire gates. They are prisoners, being out at risk.

No-one normal should be ok with this.

This. It has been declared unlawful. What is worrying is that someone in those unis decided off thier own vat that giving security to keep students inside was ok. It's also.bloody worrying that the police colluded with false imprisonment without a second thought.

These kids away from home for the first time without an iota of support from uni, locked indoors, not allowed out for food, not even allowed to the residence laundry room to washthier r clothes. Many unis locked them in and washed thier hands of them
Utterly disgraceful. They are creaming in thousands a year from students, for what? A few hours online lessons they could have done at home and saved them and thier parents the expense of paying for digs?
One lawyer has said that the students could legally rescind thier place and leave and demand all thier expenses back. I hope they do it en masse.

Nobody will ever trust a uni to have its students welfare uppermost ever again.

Inkpaperstars · 28/09/2020 20:46

I think the chancellor of one of the Scottish universities involved was on sky news indicating that some large parties had gone ahead against the university (and I guess national) rules, and that these were associated with the outbreaks. I don't know if that is true, or how accurate the association is. Even if the parties contributed to it, it's obviously bigger than that. I think he said it as a way to imply that term could get back to normal, if things like that were under control which he said they now are and the students in involved were regretful. I am not sure he is right there or really believes that...it seems to me likely that parties or not it will spread, but I don't know.

RufustheSniggeringReindeer · 28/09/2020 20:47

And to answer the OP

I’m not ok with this

mumsneedwine · 28/09/2020 20:47

To me this is not about Covid. It's about the erosion of civil liberties. There is NO excuse to lock innocent people up. NO law that supports it. Doesn't matter who they are. To do it to 18 years olds, who are really not adults, who have left home a week earlier with no support or friends is barbaric. I don't like my country much anymore.

jdoejnr1 · 28/09/2020 20:48

They're under the same rules as everyone else!

"Tonight, it has been confirmed that students are free to leave if they wish, but are being asked to 'do the right thing' and self-isolate in their acommodation."

HesterShaw1 · 28/09/2020 20:49

@mumsneedwine

To me this is not about Covid. It's about the erosion of civil liberties. There is NO excuse to lock innocent people up. NO law that supports it. Doesn't matter who they are. To do it to 18 years olds, who are really not adults, who have left home a week earlier with no support or friends is barbaric. I don't like my country much anymore.
Seems like this might be the issue that wakes the country up.

Good.

These measures are ENTIRELY disproportionate for a virus most people don't even know they have.

It's insane.

cantkeepawayforever · 28/09/2020 20:49

@RufustheSniggeringReindeer

So there WAS flouting of the national rule of 6?

In the same way that if you live in a house with 6 other people that you too have ‘flouted’ the rules

Lots of students are in dorms or houses Of more than 6

Ds1 was when he was in halls, dd is in a house of 5 but her freind is in a house of 8

No, a household of more than 6 is just that - a larger household. It's the 'ingling in halls' that i am picking up on.

A single flat of 8, mingling only with itself but with strict SD from everyone else, would have been fine.

catscatscatseverywhere · 28/09/2020 20:50

This is F ridiculous. I feel sorry for them. I am waiting for this Covid madness to end. This government just don't know what they're doing anymore.

starrynight19 · 28/09/2020 20:50

Funny how if they blame it on parties then the blame lies solely at the students feet.
Instead of thinking it may be the fact that kids have come from all over and are spreading it.
But that would mean students wouldn’t be entitled to demand refunds if this shit show continues and maybe that lecturer might be out of a job.

GabriellaMontez · 28/09/2020 20:50

And after 2 weeks? Then what?

Think the students will keep going for tests?

Willow2017 · 28/09/2020 20:50

Everyone rlse fidnt have private security guards outside thier door.
Nor the police.
Everyone else had access to food. I know one mum who took her son food and the security guard tried to stop her leaving it on his flat doorstep! He got told where to go in no uncertain terms.

DonnaDonna01 · 28/09/2020 20:51

@cantkeepawayforever I quote you -

Also, this was predictable. it is not the Government's fault - whatever else is their fault, which is huge - that not all students, and not all parents, realised that this was predictable.

You can’t have it both ways - it’s not the government’s fault but then say - I do not support the return to university and think students should be allowed to study at home.
Who are you blaming for this fiasco then?