By Māra Braslava
Managing Editor
Rumor has it that some UCR students live so close to the school buildings that they can get to class by only crossing the street. To find out more, Tabula Rasa contacted the Housing Affairs Council (HAC) and got in touch with one of the students who live in the new student dorms known as St. Willibrord, which are indeed located just across the Lange Noordstraat from Eleanor.
HAC Chair, Maria Verwoerd, emphasizes that even though students live there, St. Willibrord is not an official campus location. Currently only a part of the 25 people living there are students. The remaining tenants include two UCR graduates but also people who are not related to UCR. The students who are now living in St. Willibrord have either moved from Driewegenhof or just started their first semester.
A very essential aspect is that the dwellings in St. Willibrord are not provided by Woongoed. One may wonder how this can even be possible. Ms. Verwoerd explains that at the beginning of the spring semester, Woongoed failed to meet its obligation of providing all students with accommodation in the inner city, so UCR had to look for other options.
Willibrord is actually the name of the elderly home that has been moved to new 
premises in the Bachtensteene (which some senior students might recall as the location of Barrel). The company Werkt voor Ouderen is still the owner of the building on the Lange Noordstraat. However, the administration of the building has been handed over to a property management agency called Villex that has made an agreement with UCR to house students.
Students rent the rooms “anti-squat” (antikraak in Dutch) meaning that tenants are placed in these rooms in order to prevent the building from becoming a squat which would result in depreciation of the real estate. As it is not offered by Woongoed, Willibrord cannot be an official campus location. However, according to Ms. Verwoerd, HAC and UCR administration hope that it will become one in the future considering its proximity to the other campus buildings.
There are however a couple of drawbacks to living in St. Willibrord. Most importantly, the building has no washing facilities and no internet connection. These facilities are normally provided by Woongoed, which as previously mentioned is not responsible for this location. The HAC chair states it became clear that students would be located in St. Willibrord only in mid-January and solving these issues will take time.
What do the students living in St. Willibroad say about their new home? Tessa Dronkers, a second semester student who recently moved there from Driewegenhof told Tabula Rasa that in general moving to St. Willibrord was a positive change despite that she had to get used to the loud sounds coming from the Lange Jan. The lack of washing machines and internet is a considerable downside but the proximity to the school buildings is a big advantage especially compared to Driewegenhof which is relatively far away.
Māra Braslava, Class of 2014, is a Politics and Sociology major from Limbaži, Latvia
