26 July 2010

Colleges at ANU

26 July 2010 | Sarah.a

I am a Western Australian student and I will have to go to ANU for uni next year and was looking at college accomodation but it’s really difficult without seeing the different collages which one is best.

I was wondering if anyone could give advice on the pros and cons of the different colleges?

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Masquara9:37 pm 12 Nov 12

Micky_P said :

Fenner Hall – This is a baaaad option. It’s off campus. Look it up on a map, you don’t want to be walking/riding/bussing it everyday. The mini-bus they provide is often full, and especially often at peak times. LOTS of international students. I also hear bad stories of the cleaning staff having a bad roster, so the morning after the night before can be daunting in the bathrooms. No real party life. Avoid if possible.

What’s the issue with international students?

icmn916:03 pm 12 Nov 12

Skidd Marx said :

icmn91 said :

HenryBG said :

icmn91 said :

Just so you all know, I have emailed Ursula Hall regarding my concerns about my gluten free needs being totally inadequately addressed and the head of hall has responded. I have touched on the matter here http://icmn91.hubpages.com/hub/Ursula-Hall-Gluten-Free-Email-Response and wonder what your thoughts are. Do you think s/he has provided an adequate response??

How about trying “personal responsibility” for a change?

Stop trying to make your problems other people’s responsibility and deal with them yourself.

If you have a peculiar dietary requirement, cater for yourself instead of requiring other people to do so – other people who have no understanding of your needs and not much reason to really care too much.

Of course then you can’t blame everybody else for your own failures.

I took as much personal responsibility that I felt I needed to take. Far more than most gluten-intolerant residents who would very frequently cheat on the gluten free diet or not even bother with the gluten free diet (even though it helped).

The affects of untreated gluten sensitivities are immense. When the lining of the small intestine is in the early phases of destruction there are often few or no symptoms present. This point cannot be stressed enough.

I never expected the hall to be able to accommodate a gluten free diet. This was why I called them in 2009 (the year before I intended to start studying at the ANU). Much to my surprise the lady on the phone at Ursies admin said there would not be any problems at all and that they had students right then and there who needed gluten free foods.

Had this happened back in the 1990s I would have been doubtful. However, the fact of the matter (as much as some people might wish we were still in the ’80s) is that there are now laws in the country to protect us.

Untreated gluten sensitivity and coeliac disease can cause a host of health problems (many of which cannot be reversed once triggered). Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes, osteoporosis, poor bone density (increasing the risk of fractures and failure to heal from these fractures), malnutrition and also neurological problems can result from continual exposure to even small amounts of gluten.

I could not think clearly while I was at Ursula Hall. Whether this was entirely or partly due to gluten contamination is unknown.

I would not recommend Ursula Hall to anyone who is even slightly concerned about food safety matters. The kitchen staff were (in my opinion and from my experience) completely clueless as to what food safety meant.

The ANU disabled my student email account as well. Anyone know why?? 😕

As a coeliac I sympathise with you.

But regardless of whether you’re right or wrong, if you keep pursuing this nothing will come of this except extreme and prolonged bitterness on your part. I really think you need to be the big person by accepting that the world is cruel & unjust at times. Move on or it’ll eat you up (no pun intended).

I’m moving on to the next level, slowly and steadily, as time goes by. I held off writing about it for quite a few months after I dropped out of uni – that way I had time to collect myself and get my thoughts in order.

As I’m sure you’d appreciate (being a coeliac), neurological problems have been a long and documented cause of untreated coeliac disease and gluten/dairy related illnesses. I was absent from just about every lecture last and this year, which was probably partly due to my lack of nutrition.

Most of the other ressies who were self-diagnosed as “gluten-intolerant” frequently succumbed to bread, oatmeal and heated-up croissants. Of course, with that consideration, the kitchen staff would be very confused and uncertain about how legitimate the need for properly labelled gluten free food is.

In any case (and as annoyed as I am about the matter), my goal is to [b]educate, not litigate[/b].

Skidd Marx said :

If Ursies were to burn down tomorrow, guess who they’d blame?

I believe that I was more than reasonable in the [link=”http://icmn91.hubpages.com/hub/Ursula-Hall-Gluten-Free-Email”]email that I sent to the Ursula Hall admin[/link], so I’m sure that if it were to burn down tomorrow, they couldn’t possibly blame me (not in their right mind(s), anyway).

EvanJames11:47 pm 08 Nov 12

Micky_P said :

If I was selecting a college for myself; I would choose Burgmann, Bruce, Johns, B&G, Ursula, Unilodge, Fenner.

erm. You seem to have forgotten Toad!

For a coelic, I’d have thought self-catering was the go. I lived at B&G, and Toad. B&G hadn’t made enough kitchens when I was there, so a lot of us had no kitchen access except outside of peak (ie meal) times, so we obtained illegal cooking equipment (hotplates, hotpots and rice cookers) and cooked in our rooms.

Toad had kitchens, but stopping your pod-mates stealing your food and milk was always entertaining, coming up with new ways to poison or deter them.

Micky_P9:25 pm 08 Nov 12

Take everything said here with a grain of salt, I’m a townie with friends in college. Also, these are broad generalisations, they are not the be all and end all.

Bruce Hall – it’s a nice college, you will be very happy if you get in. It’s not a wild party college, it’s not a lame college either. It kinda has an academic lean to it (relative to the others). As mentioned earlier, has a few more rural students than the rest.

Burgmann College – another nice college, the building is kinda dull on the inside, somewhat well-known for its party lifestyle. It’s filled with a lot of north shore Sydney types. Burgmann is also infamous for its bad food.

Burton & Garran Hall – I don’t know that much about it (sorry!). It’s one of the less prominent colleges and therefore gets overlooked. Doesn’t have the party reputation of other colleges.

Fenner Hall – This is a baaaad option. It’s off campus. Look it up on a map, you don’t want to be walking/riding/bussing it everyday. The mini-bus they provide is often full, and especially often at peak times. LOTS of international students. I also hear bad stories of the cleaning staff having a bad roster, so the morning after the night before can be daunting in the bathrooms. No real party life. Avoid if possible.

John XXIII College – the wild college. If you want to have fun, hook up a lot and like hanging out with footy heads. This is for you! I actually like the building, for what it’s worth. The food is good here as well. However, study is not encouraged and you will be typecast by the broader student body. However, very fun place.

Ursula Hall – the ‘lame’ college. Often picked on for being the quiet college, which is often true. They don’t really have a reputation for being good at sport or having wild nights. I haven’t heard bad things about their food. Kinda dull building.

Unilodge – it’s just an apartment with a (bad) social calendar. LOTS of international students. It’s often criticised for being too expensive, isolating and strict. It’s not really college life, it’s more an apartment complex in the city.

If I was selecting a college for myself; I would choose Burgmann, Bruce, Johns, B&G, Ursula, Unilodge, Fenner.

Masquara7:36 pm 08 Nov 12

icmn91 said :

I almost never thought clearly while at the ANU. As I said earlier I ended up trying to avoid the college food that was poisoning me by going out to IGA and buying loads of lollies and eating several $$ worth a day. Wow, did I make myself sick! I have to admit I wasn’t exactly looking after myself in the best possible way even if I was gluten free.

Unfortunate.

icmn916:26 pm 08 Nov 12

Masquara said :

icmn91 at #23: I’m not equipped with the facts re your case, but I can’t really see how your not finishing uni can be sheeted home to the college. You would have had to have been a serial absentee to get yourself kicked out. You don’t sound like the sort of person who wouldn’t take advantage of medical reports and excuses and extensions.

I talked to the doctors at the ANU health service and none of them took my need for gluten free food seriously as I had never been formally diagnosed with coeliac disease. The coeliac disease tests from years back came back normal, although I did show a borderline on an older gluten antibody test that is non-specific for coeliac disease. I also had an elevated fecal fat and gluten antibody score which resolved on the gluten free diet within a couple of weeks (the stool detects problems with gluten far more early than the blood).

Therefore I was diagnosed with what is more likely to be non-coeliac gluten sensitivity and that I should follow a gluten free diet purely due to the symptomatic and clinical relief I experienced (something many doctors consider to be a fad – including those at the ANU health service).

I tried to get extensions for my assignments as much as possible. I have an ASD.

Masquara said :

Putting up with what you describe as long-term gluten ingestion was plain stupid, sorry – IF you are gluten intolerant. As I said, I don’t know your facts, but I certainly am aware of a pain in the arse “gluten intolerant” person around the ANU years ago, who scared the bejesus out of a college kitchen, claiming she would die if she ate food that had been cooked in a baking tray that had previously had wheat cooked in it. Turned out she had been eating bread with mislabelled ingredients all along – had been eating bread that was 30 per cent wheat. That true story I’m afraid makes me a little skeptical of your story, given that your words give the impression of a rather excitable person.

As I mentioned just above, I am indeed gluten intolerant.

Which college kitchen was this, that the ANU student complained to? I know that the head chef at Ursies got really annoyed when I brought up the issue of chips (that were labelled GF on the board) being cooked in the deep frying unit. He thought I was having him on.

And, of course, speaking of mislabelled bread, here’s something that might interest you (different country btw, but still…):

http://www.celiac.com/articles/22522/1/Paul-Seelig-Found-Guilty-of-Selling-Fake-Gluten-Free-Bread-Gets-11-Years/

Perhaps the head chef at Ursies will be the next “Paul Seelig”?

Mistakes will inevitably happen on a gluten free diet and accidental ingestions of gluten will occur (both through cross contamination and full-on gluten exposures). I remember back in 2000 when it was very difficult to know whether a food item was gluten free as ingredient lists didn’t declare the gluten-containing grains (i.e. wheat, barley, rye and oats).

I almost never thought clearly while at the ANU. As I said earlier I ended up trying to avoid the college food that was poisoning me by going out to IGA and buying loads of lollies and eating several $$ worth a day. Wow, did I make myself sick! I have to admit I wasn’t exactly looking after myself in the best possible way even if I was gluten free.

NoAddedMSG4:49 pm 08 Nov 12

icmn91 said :

The ANU disabled my student email account as well. Anyone know why?? 😕

It’s not personal – they disable everyone’s account once they stop being a student, usually within a couple of months.

Skidd Marx3:17 pm 08 Nov 12

icmn91 said :

HenryBG said :

icmn91 said :

Just so you all know, I have emailed Ursula Hall regarding my concerns about my gluten free needs being totally inadequately addressed and the head of hall has responded. I have touched on the matter here http://icmn91.hubpages.com/hub/Ursula-Hall-Gluten-Free-Email-Response and wonder what your thoughts are. Do you think s/he has provided an adequate response??

How about trying “personal responsibility” for a change?

Stop trying to make your problems other people’s responsibility and deal with them yourself.

If you have a peculiar dietary requirement, cater for yourself instead of requiring other people to do so – other people who have no understanding of your needs and not much reason to really care too much.

Of course then you can’t blame everybody else for your own failures.

I took as much personal responsibility that I felt I needed to take. Far more than most gluten-intolerant residents who would very frequently cheat on the gluten free diet or not even bother with the gluten free diet (even though it helped).

The affects of untreated gluten sensitivities are immense. When the lining of the small intestine is in the early phases of destruction there are often few or no symptoms present. This point cannot be stressed enough.

I never expected the hall to be able to accommodate a gluten free diet. This was why I called them in 2009 (the year before I intended to start studying at the ANU). Much to my surprise the lady on the phone at Ursies admin said there would not be any problems at all and that they had students right then and there who needed gluten free foods.

Had this happened back in the 1990s I would have been doubtful. However, the fact of the matter (as much as some people might wish we were still in the ’80s) is that there are now laws in the country to protect us.

Untreated gluten sensitivity and coeliac disease can cause a host of health problems (many of which cannot be reversed once triggered). Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes, osteoporosis, poor bone density (increasing the risk of fractures and failure to heal from these fractures), malnutrition and also neurological problems can result from continual exposure to even small amounts of gluten.

I could not think clearly while I was at Ursula Hall. Whether this was entirely or partly due to gluten contamination is unknown.

I would not recommend Ursula Hall to anyone who is even slightly concerned about food safety matters. The kitchen staff were (in my opinion and from my experience) completely clueless as to what food safety meant.

The ANU disabled my student email account as well. Anyone know why?? 😕

As a coeliac I sympathise with you.

But regardless of whether you’re right or wrong, if you keep pursuing this nothing will come of this except extreme and prolonged bitterness on your part. I really think you need to be the big person by accepting that the world is cruel & unjust at times. Move on or it’ll eat you up (no pun intended).

If Ursies were to burn down tomorrow, guess who they’d blame?

icmn912:27 pm 08 Nov 12

HenryBG said :

icmn91 said :

Just so you all know, I have emailed Ursula Hall regarding my concerns about my gluten free needs being totally inadequately addressed and the head of hall has responded. I have touched on the matter here http://icmn91.hubpages.com/hub/Ursula-Hall-Gluten-Free-Email-Response and wonder what your thoughts are. Do you think s/he has provided an adequate response??

How about trying “personal responsibility” for a change?

Stop trying to make your problems other people’s responsibility and deal with them yourself.

If you have a peculiar dietary requirement, cater for yourself instead of requiring other people to do so – other people who have no understanding of your needs and not much reason to really care too much.

Of course then you can’t blame everybody else for your own failures.

I took as much personal responsibility that I felt I needed to take. Far more than most gluten-intolerant residents who would very frequently cheat on the gluten free diet or not even bother with the gluten free diet (even though it helped).

The affects of untreated gluten sensitivities are immense. When the lining of the small intestine is in the early phases of destruction there are often few or no symptoms present. This point cannot be stressed enough.

I never expected the hall to be able to accommodate a gluten free diet. This was why I called them in 2009 (the year before I intended to start studying at the ANU). Much to my surprise the lady on the phone at Ursies admin said there would not be any problems at all and that they had students right then and there who needed gluten free foods.

Had this happened back in the 1990s I would have been doubtful. However, the fact of the matter (as much as some people might wish we were still in the ’80s) is that there are now laws in the country to protect us.

Untreated gluten sensitivity and coeliac disease can cause a host of health problems (many of which cannot be reversed once triggered). Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes, osteoporosis, poor bone density (increasing the risk of fractures and failure to heal from these fractures), malnutrition and also neurological problems can result from continual exposure to even small amounts of gluten.

I could not think clearly while I was at Ursula Hall. Whether this was entirely or partly due to gluten contamination is unknown.

I would not recommend Ursula Hall to anyone who is even slightly concerned about food safety matters. The kitchen staff were (in my opinion and from my experience) completely clueless as to what food safety meant.

The ANU disabled my student email account as well. Anyone know why?? 😕

HenryBG10:24 am 02 Nov 12

icmn91 said :

Just so you all know, I have emailed Ursula Hall regarding my concerns about my gluten free needs being totally inadequately addressed and the head of hall has responded. I have touched on the matter here http://icmn91.hubpages.com/hub/Ursula-Hall-Gluten-Free-Email-Response and wonder what your thoughts are. Do you think s/he has provided an adequate response??

How about trying “personal responsibility” for a change?

Stop trying to make your problems other people’s responsibility and deal with them yourself.

If you have a peculiar dietary requirement, cater for yourself instead of requiring other people to do so – other people who have no understanding of your needs and not much reason to really care too much.

Of course then you can’t blame everybody else for your own failures.

Tetranitrate6:08 pm 28 Oct 12

c_c™ said :

Those who bad mouth Unilodge tend to be cheapskates rather than having any serious complaints. Their main beef seems to be with the fees Unilodge charge, which are more than other colleges around Canberra, but still much less than interstate and you do get the most modern, well equipped accommodation for that price.

Oh come on.
The cost IS a serious complaint in and of itself – and the actual accommodation mix offered is terrible; given the choice I’ll guarantee that most students would prefer either catered accommodation or budget accommodation with shared cooking facilities. UL’s mix of 3 shares, 5 shares, doubles and studios (all priced well above what most students can reasonably afford) aren’t what the majority of undergrads are after in the first place. It’s doable if you’re on youth allowance, but it borders on impossible to study fulltime and support yourself living there while doing the usual retail/hospitality casual jobs accessible to students.

The only reason UL is able to fill its rooms at all is because ANU plays bait and switch with the accommodation guarantee – by the time offers are allocated, it’s too late for anyone to source private rentals and they’re then stuck in a contract for the rest of the year. The only people who voluntarily move there are Johns/Burgman ex-ressies who can easily afford it and tend to move as a group, or cashed up internationals.

I lived in the original UL for part of 2008, and am aware of several people who actually ended up dropping out of uni due to the financial pressure thanks to the nasty little game ANU plays here.
You get kids from the coast and various country towns who’ve applied through the normal accommodation system for Fenner and B&G, ineligible for youth allowance thanks to parental income but not able to get significant financial support from them, planning to support themselves through casual work. All fine and dandy if you’re are at the self catered ANU halls, however if you get allocated to UL you’re suddenly in for a world of shit.

Fenner hall costs $182 per week, offers a 41 week contract (ie: while uni is actually on)
The unilodge halls cost, when their utilities charges are included, at absolute minimum (in 5 shares, which you may not get) costs around $250 per week, and you’re going to be stuck on a 48 or 52 week contract (effectively the same in terms of cost since they charge more for the 48 weeks) whether you have any intention of remaining in Canberra over the holidays or not. (Most of the ANU halls hire themselves our to functions/conferences/ect during this time.)

Of course you could easily find yourself offered options costing $280 or $300 a week if you’re unlucky, and since offers aren’t released until mid January if you chose to decline you’ll have about 3 weeks to find a private rental, now stuck looking at the busiest time of the year in competition with people moving for APS Grad programs and the like. The whole thing borders on blackmail.

It’s effectively a two tiered system where those fortunate enough to get into the real halls have a grand old time, while others get arbitrarily subjected to much higher costs. Not to mention the lack of community activities compared to the real colleges – it’s certainly improved, but it’s in no way comparable to Bruce/B&G/Ursies/Fenner/Johns/Burgman.

Also the ‘quality’ of the building is terrible too, the walls are all plasterboard and paper thin – if you’re unfortunate enough to live there you better hope you have bookworm internationals for neighbors, cause if not you’re going to hear it whenever they have sex.
Not to mention the constant firealarms and building evacuations, a result of both poor design and poor equipment (when I was there the fans above the stoves in the kitchenettes did not evacuate smoke/steam at all, they just blew it around the room).

The whole thing is just the sickest joke, it’s unbelievable that ANU actually kept this up after the first one instead of just building duplicates of the self catered colleges (which are way more space efficient too – B&G is on a tiny block but is the largest (population-wise) residential college in the southern hemisphere.

Mr Evil9:00 pm 27 Oct 12

icmn91 said :

Mr Evil said :

icmn91 said :

I am writing today to discuss a gluten contamination experience at Ursula Hall (i.e. Ursies) college that caused me 2.5 years of suffering.

Before registering my college preferences in late 2009, I enquired about whether any fully-catered colleges would be able to accommodate a gluten free diet and was advised that that the kitchen staff would not have a problem catering for my needs.

They marked main course menu options on the board as GF if they were gluten free. Sometimes they would list french fries as being GF when they were cooked in the same deep fryer and oil that had been used for battered foods (which obviously contained gluten). This became obvious when I asked the head chef (who was rather unsupportive of my dietary requirements) about this, only to hear the following:

“Look, mate! Honestly, I really don’t think that the very little bit of gluten that gets through is going to hurt you. Are you really that sensitive?”

On other occasions, they were listing menu items like “Beef and Barley Stew” as GF when this option, as the name suggests, is most obviously not gluten free (as barley contains gluten). I was too brain-fogged to mention this to the staff on that particular day and later on they denied it.

I became very sick from time to time as a result of this false labelling. I couldn’t attend classes properly and became excluded from the university in June, 2012.

More details are available on this site which I urge you all to read: http://icmn91.hubpages.com/hub/Ursula-Hall-Gluten-Free

In Australia, we have very strict laws as to what can be labelled gluten free and I will be reporting the kitchen staff and head of hall to the authorities. They have engaged in criminal behaviour and have hurt me immensely (both physically and psychologically) as a result of breaching the regulations.

I love it when some tool digs up a two year old thread with an axe to grind.

Really, if I had special dietry requirements, there is no way I would be going the fully catered option at uni ressies. You sound like another student who simply can’t take responsibility for themselves, and then spend your life blaming everyone else when they end up being excluded from uni.

Exclusion follows a formal warning once you fail 50% or more of your enrolment in any one semester; and you would have had a right of reply to your exclusion, so if you had genuine medical reasons for failing your courses then that would have been taken into consideration – unless of course you beleive the whole university is involved in your private Ursula Hall conspiracy!

Your name’s not Fleur by any chance???

First of all, I have to say, Mr Evil, that I love your “axe to grind” expression. I’ve been using the term a lot myself.

The actions of the Ursula Hall kitchen staff contradicted their own motto (“The Truth Shall Set You Free”). I would not recommend Ursies to any ‘food’-safety-conscious student.

Gluten was almost forced into my diet for just about the whole time that I was at Ursies (especially this year).

As for showing cause, I will be providing a supporting statement explaining what happened at ANU should I decide to ever attend university again.

Well good luck with that, as once you are kicked out of one Group of 8 university, you’ll have a great deal of trouble ever getting into another. As I said before, if you had a reasonable excuse and could prove that your medical condition was affecting your studies, then you wouldn’t have been excluded from ANU in the first place.

Maybe you really did spend too much time eating lollies down at the IGA – in the times that Ursies ‘weren’t forcing gluten into your diet’???

Here’s a tip: try CDU – they’ll take almost anyone.

icmn914:21 pm 27 Oct 12

Mr Evil said :

icmn91 said :

I am writing today to discuss a gluten contamination experience at Ursula Hall (i.e. Ursies) college that caused me 2.5 years of suffering.

Before registering my college preferences in late 2009, I enquired about whether any fully-catered colleges would be able to accommodate a gluten free diet and was advised that that the kitchen staff would not have a problem catering for my needs.

They marked main course menu options on the board as GF if they were gluten free. Sometimes they would list french fries as being GF when they were cooked in the same deep fryer and oil that had been used for battered foods (which obviously contained gluten). This became obvious when I asked the head chef (who was rather unsupportive of my dietary requirements) about this, only to hear the following:

“Look, mate! Honestly, I really don’t think that the very little bit of gluten that gets through is going to hurt you. Are you really that sensitive?”

On other occasions, they were listing menu items like “Beef and Barley Stew” as GF when this option, as the name suggests, is most obviously not gluten free (as barley contains gluten). I was too brain-fogged to mention this to the staff on that particular day and later on they denied it.

I became very sick from time to time as a result of this false labelling. I couldn’t attend classes properly and became excluded from the university in June, 2012.

More details are available on this site which I urge you all to read: http://icmn91.hubpages.com/hub/Ursula-Hall-Gluten-Free

In Australia, we have very strict laws as to what can be labelled gluten free and I will be reporting the kitchen staff and head of hall to the authorities. They have engaged in criminal behaviour and have hurt me immensely (both physically and psychologically) as a result of breaching the regulations.

I love it when some tool digs up a two year old thread with an axe to grind.

Really, if I had special dietry requirements, there is no way I would be going the fully catered option at uni ressies. You sound like another student who simply can’t take responsibility for themselves, and then spend your life blaming everyone else when they end up being excluded from uni.

Exclusion follows a formal warning once you fail 50% or more of your enrolment in any one semester; and you would have had a right of reply to your exclusion, so if you had genuine medical reasons for failing your courses then that would have been taken into consideration – unless of course you beleive the whole university is involved in your private Ursula Hall conspiracy!

Your name’s not Fleur by any chance???

First of all, I have to say, Mr Evil, that I love your “axe to grind” expression. I’ve been using the term a lot myself.

The actions of the Ursula Hall kitchen staff contradicted their own motto (“The Truth Shall Set You Free”). I would not recommend Ursies to any ‘food’-safety-conscious student.

Gluten was almost forced into my diet for just about the whole time that I was at Ursies (especially this year).

As for showing cause, I will be providing a supporting statement explaining what happened at ANU should I decide to ever attend university again.

Mr Evil1:02 pm 27 Oct 12

icmn91 said :

I am writing today to discuss a gluten contamination experience at Ursula Hall (i.e. Ursies) college that caused me 2.5 years of suffering.

Before registering my college preferences in late 2009, I enquired about whether any fully-catered colleges would be able to accommodate a gluten free diet and was advised that that the kitchen staff would not have a problem catering for my needs.

They marked main course menu options on the board as GF if they were gluten free. Sometimes they would list french fries as being GF when they were cooked in the same deep fryer and oil that had been used for battered foods (which obviously contained gluten). This became obvious when I asked the head chef (who was rather unsupportive of my dietary requirements) about this, only to hear the following:

“Look, mate! Honestly, I really don’t think that the very little bit of gluten that gets through is going to hurt you. Are you really that sensitive?”

On other occasions, they were listing menu items like “Beef and Barley Stew” as GF when this option, as the name suggests, is most obviously not gluten free (as barley contains gluten). I was too brain-fogged to mention this to the staff on that particular day and later on they denied it.

I became very sick from time to time as a result of this false labelling. I couldn’t attend classes properly and became excluded from the university in June, 2012.

More details are available on this site which I urge you all to read: http://icmn91.hubpages.com/hub/Ursula-Hall-Gluten-Free

In Australia, we have very strict laws as to what can be labelled gluten free and I will be reporting the kitchen staff and head of hall to the authorities. They have engaged in criminal behaviour and have hurt me immensely (both physically and psychologically) as a result of breaching the regulations.

I love it when some tool digs up a two year old thread with an axe to grind.

Really, if I had special dietry requirements, there is no way I would be going the fully catered option at uni ressies. You sound like another student who simply can’t take responsibility for themselves, and then spend your life blaming everyone else when they end up being excluded from uni.

Exclusion follows a formal warning once you fail 50% or more of your enrolment in any one semester; and you would have had a right of reply to your exclusion, so if you had genuine medical reasons for failing your courses then that would have been taken into consideration – unless of course you beleive the whole university is involved in your private Ursula Hall conspiracy!

Your name’s not Fleur by any chance???

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