800 student residents held hostage with no power, no net

The 800 residents of Copenhagen’s Danmarks Internationale Kollegium (DIK) dorm are still living without electricity and are unable to cook, store food, do laundry or access the internet. This is more than a week after a fire that gutted the cellar in the basement, sent poisonous smoke into their living areas, and caused a middle of the night evacuation.

The administrator responsible for DIK in Albertslund, KKIK, is ‘on vacation’, says her colleague at KKIK. A standard reply that was also given to the University Post, when our reporter e-mailed and telephoned the office.

»Mahesh [one of the residents, ed.] was told that the person who is responsible for Albertslund is on holiday. This is getting ridiculous,« writes Joanne Kawecka, a DIK resident.

See our photo gallery of the dorm here.

Shouting match with the inspector

No-one else at the KKIK office is eager to help.

Desperate for a short-term solution, some of the residents managed to get one freezer working by connecting it to the dorms’ main power line. But as soon as they had filled it with food, the cleaners threw it all away. Students have been left out of pocket for a sum of money, and with nothing to eat. This sent some of the frustrated residents over the edge:

»About six people from our block quarrelled with the inspector about the cleaners throwing our food away. The inspector has the same answers for everything; he doesn’t really listen to what we have to say,« writes Joanne Kawecka in an e-mail to the University Post.

Read the article about the fire here.

Administrators don’t care

Carlos Diaz, another resident is feeling harassed.

»We cannot use the laundry room; I have to wash my clothes in the sink in my room,« he says.

According to Carlos, some of the international residents are now contacting their embassies, seeking help wherever they can.

»It shows how desperate the situation is for us right now that some people are asking higher institutions to help them, since the administrators seem not to care about their residents.«.

Uni-avis@adm.ku.dk

Stay in the know about news and events happening in Copenhagen by signing up for the University Post’s weekly newsletter here.