A student at the University of Sussex has reportedly been sleeping in the University Radio Falmer (URF) office, in Norwich House, breaking university rules and bringing into serious review the security of on-campus residences.
Suspicions were first raised last year in December when members of URF found empty food tins, books, post, and clothes in the radio workspace, which is next door to their studio.
While they believe to know the identity of the student, the URF team decided to withhold the name for privacy reasons.
Kit Bradshaw, URF Chair, said: “The office is used by URF members throughout the week to hold meetings and plan their shows.
“[It] has a combination lock and the code is known only by members. The possibility that someone was using these facilities for another purpose was concerning.
“The personal items were handed in to the porter, and amongst them were a number of items of post which featured the name of a student.
“This is the student that we suspect of sleeping/living in the URF office. However we have nothing more than circumstantial evidence and the student was never actually caught in the office.”
Rooms such as those used by the URF team are classified by the university as ‘recreational’, and such areas are not permitted to be used as personal living spaces.
Bradshaw added: “URF takes any breach of these guidelines very seriously and we are doing everything we can to improve the security of our facilities and ensure the safety of all those living in Norwich House.”
The building manager of Park Houses, Tina Watts, has been notified of the circumstances and the locks are now being changed on the studio and office doors.
One concerned student commented: “Whilst this student has clearly broken university rules- the incident raises more worrying issues.
“Surely the student had an unsatisfactory enough experience in their allocated housing to want to move. The reason for this could be personal problems, or could it be due to housing arrangements that the University of Sussex has failed to meet?”
URF has been the University of Sussex’s radio station since 1976, and can be listened to worldwide at www.urfonline.com.
