New furniture in LCC canteen

by Anu Shukla

The new-look LCC canteen has been a welcome surprise for some, but for others it has triggered a response to the college and its priorities for funding other student facilities.

Head of college Sandra Kemp said: “This year we have attached particular priority to obtaining comprehensive feedback from students on all aspects of college life.”

Kemp said more than 2,000 responses from students demonstrated the widespread dissatisfaction with the LCC canteen environment “along with the quality and value for money of the food on offer”.

She said: “The modest investment in furniture in the canteen represents an early response to this feedback. Further improvements to college catering facilities remain a priority and we are actively pursuing this with BaxterStorey, the university’s caterers.”

A good environment

A major issue of concern for many students is the lack of resources, especially now in a climate of cuts.

Lesley Claridge, Associate Dean (Learning Environment), said: “You have to look at each individual project as it stands. The environment here [in the canteen] is something that we want to encourage students to use. It’s making the environment that you’re working in fit for purpose, and that’s as important as giving you a new camera.”

Lack of resources

Some LCC students however, have other views.

Andrew Gregory, a BA Photography student, said: “Most of the lecture rooms could do with projectors because you can barely even see the images, which is especially important for photography. Instead, we get to see all these colourful new chairs, and I don’t even use the canteen.”

Another BA Photography student, Julian Bonnin, said: “Well, I must say I was really, really surprised when we came back from the break to see all these colourful, fancy chairs. They’re telling us all the time that ‘we don’t have money for anything…’ but I don’t really understand the policy for spending in this school.

“The food is crap, but hey, you still have nice chairs! It’s really strange. They could spend the money on much better stuff. In photography, we’d like at least 10 more cameras. At Camberwell (College of Arts) for example, they have 50 different 35mm cameras, and here you get 200 people fighting over 20 cameras.”