Coronavirus has disproportionately affected students. The Government's mishandling of the pandemic has left students in higher education without guidance, support and safe housing, and made university accommodation into coronavirus hotspots. Often promised a blend of in-person and online teaching, university bosses welcomed students onto campus, collected rent and fees, and then confined many students to their rooms.

However, the problem did not start with the pandemic. The mistreatment of this generation of undergraduates continues an increasingly bad deal offered to students. The cost of rent nationally in halls of residence doubled in ten years between 2002 and 2012, and there is no sign of rent rises ceasing in coming years, with universities more likely than private providers to be confident they can keep hiking at current rates. Underpinning all of this, is marketisation, which has caused universities to commercialise their operations in order to increase and diversify income streams to the detriment of students.

The University of London charges some of the highest rents in the country for its intercollegiate halls, and yet still does not provide a safe and adequate service. Reports of sexual assaults and harassment have gone ignored, and vulnerable students have been threatened with homelessness for the most minor of infractions, such as doing laundry during a lockdown.

But resistance is happening. Across the country, students are withholding rent in what has quickly become a struggle against university bosses and government mismanagement. From Manchester to Liverpool, from Sussex to Bristol, students are showing tenants' action is the way to fight back. Here at the University of London, UCL students have joined with others in intercollegiate halls to demand:

- A 40% reduction in rent for those who choose to stay in halls,
- A no-penalty contract release clause and deposit refunds for those who choose to move out,
- No staff redundancies,
- Mental health support and proper quarantine food (catering for all dietary requirements: kosher, halal, vegan, etc.),
- No repercussions for strikers.

In countless cases, students' unions have come out in solidarity with their members, and provided financial, strategic and organisational support to rent-striking students, including in Bristol where the Union supplied £500. The NUS has a crystal-clear policy position to support all Cut the Rent and Rent Strike campaigns across the country, but UCL Students' Union is fast becoming the unfortunate exception.

It is time UCL students were given the democratic opportunity to change this. UCL Students' Union must hold a referendum on support for the University of London Intercollegiate Rent Strike, including:

1. Providing financial support of at least £400 for the campaign
2. Raising awareness via SU email lists and social media
3. Lobbying University of London management to meet and negotiate with rent strike delegates
4. Writing a statement of support and solidarity with the rent strike
5. Providing printing and other campaign resources available to the SU