Hostels For Students

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30395, 20 March 1964, Page 10

Hostels For Students

The assurance from the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Canterbury (Dr. L. L. Pownall) that students living in hostels had no part in last year’s drug affair adds weight to the argument for increasing hostel accommodation. Supervision and the greater communal sense of responsibility in hostel life would no doubt have stamped out this kind of thing had it appeared in a residential halt Warnings about the dangers of flat-living for young students are not much use unless hostel places are available, however. At present, most students, or their parents, have little choice if their homes are not in Christchurch. University administrators have good reasons, academic, social, and economic, to favour hostels; but, unfortunately, this accommodation is scarce. The warning by Dr. Pownall should at least ensure that no hostel place is ever empty.

In New Zealand, where universities and students enjoy considerable support from the State, the disciplining of students for dabbling in drugs is not merely a disaster for those concerned. It is evidence of a failure among a few students to accept their social responsibilities. University education is no longer a luxury for a fortunate few. It is almost a contract entered into by students to make the best possible use of advanced education, not just for their own development but for the benefit of the community which helps to pay for it If hostels will make the investment of talent, energy, and money more productive, then the sooner there are more of them the better.