On the evening of the 28th of September and into the early hours of 29th, a large gathering took place at Chamberlain Halls, breaking government guidelines as well as the University of Southampton Community Code of Conduct. A letter from the Residences Deputy Manager reporting on the incident will be retained on the Student Disciplinary record system for all residents at Chamberlain Halls, whether they were in attendance of the gathering or not.
Reports come from the LGBTQ+ Society, who issued a statement asking the University to pardon students not involved in the gathering, declaring that ‘students should not be presumed guilty, or sent threatening emails by halls management, when they may not have been aware or involved.‘
Julian Jarrett-James, the Residences Deputy Manager at Glen Eyre stated in a letter to Chamberlain students that:
Even if you were not in attendance at the gathering last night, failure to report the incident means all residents of Chamberlain Hall will be held equally responsible.
Credit: Anonymous student, via the Southampton University LGBTQ+ Society
That being said, Chamberlain residents have reported being unaware of or asleep during the incident, and are now asking for the letter to be removed off of their records. Chamberlain Halls comprises of 356 bedrooms across five blocks.
The Southampton University Labour Society has also reached out to Wessex Scene to express their support of the affected students: ‘We are totally against the uni creating such a toxic environment for freshers, encouraging students to turn against each other and punish students without a fair investigation. We obviously support the safety measures against coronavirus but disagree with the unfair way the university is treating these students.There are so many reasons why students might not want to report their peers and this should not be expected of them‘
If you were affected by last night’s events, please contact Wessex Scene with any more information. This article will be updated as soon as we know more.
