Last week students raised concerns with the Students’ Union on the news that the University were consulting on the future of the Art Shop, based at College Road, based on the costs of keeping it open.
In response to this feedback, we met with the University to request that a meeting be held with students to share the consultation proposals in more detail and to provide students with the opportunity to ask questions and share their concerns.
The "Town Hall" meeting took place on Friday in Cadman, where over 100 students attended. A member of the University Executive Board facilitated the meeting on behalf of the University with two supporting staff members in attendance. The key issues and concerns shared and discussed, on what was clearly an emotive issue, included: opening hours, technical expertise, profile of the outlet, accessibility and broader impacts on the student experience or potential recruitment for the future.
The University agreed that a further meeting would take place in 2 weeks as part of the consultation and that the Students’ Union would help facilitating a smaller group of students to consider how concerns could be best addressed.