For many years, together with the growing controversy over the poor quality of nightlife in Trento, there have been a lot of comments on what had taken away all the social life from the residents at San Bartolameo, who despite adding up to around 800, mostly students, have been silent and deserted. An important factor contributing to this climate is undoubtedly the strict regulations, which every person who live in a dormitory at a University Opera structure must comply with. It is certainly not the easiest task to manage such a structure, while – ensuring security and peace, but when the influence of the regulation are unduly restrictive towards the freedoms of its recipients, it is important to reflect on the problem and possibly make some changes.
This step has finally been made thanks to the work of l’Udu- Union of University students-, who received opinions and voices of students and proposed a Reform of the Dormitory Regulations, which – then was approved by the Cda of the Opera Universitaria. The new regulations are valid in all dormitories of Opera in the city.
In particular, students will be able to see themselves represented by elected bodies in the same way as do the University representatives and see their own interests protected, both in cases of disputes between roommates and mediators, and to be able to proposeall kinds of initiatives to bring back the life into the social climate of the dormitory. This item fits perfectly with the first paragraph of Article-3 of the new Provisions for the use of housing services, which states: "To promote and enhance the diversity, the Opera Universitaria is committed to make available some designated space for the purposes of aggregations and linguistic and cultural exchanges", while respecting the multiplicity and heterogeneity of the student community. Also in this direction, there is a change in the tolerance to the noise and to the ability to accommodate people from 8.00 to 24.00, compared to the previous hours from 9:00 to 23:00. There are also new developments on the part of the hospitality, which up to now had not been even conceptually contemplated within the Regulation, which will now be subject to availability of the houssing for the guests. Another issue that generated not a little controversy among the students and the Opera Universitaria concerns transfer requests. The Office of Dormitory, in fact, could hardly ensure that users can meet various transfer requests, except in some cases. The new provisions provide that each student paying € 50 to cover the expenses that Opera Universitaria incurs to implement the transfer, will be guaranteed that their request will be satisfied. The preference on where to be placed can also be expressed while applying for a dormitory, which also eliminates the penalty of € 250, which was previously required for anyone who renounced the housing within 30 days.
In essence, though not always substantial in all the directions, there are multiple changes towards more openness to the needs of the students, showing that the collaboration between the student community and the institutions is a key element for a modern university town such as Trento.
The new complete rules can be found here
Text: Doriana Nigro
Translation: Olena Khaliman