University demands freshers remove 'send drink' and 'f*** Boris' signs from their windows - as lawyers question whether keeping students locked in their flats is legal and culture secretary Oliver Dowden says they SHOULD be allowed home for Christmas
A university is facing backlash after asking students who have been locked down in halls of residence to remove comical signs and messages displayed in their windows.
Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) is one of at least 32 universities in the UK to have confirmed cases of coronavirus.
Thousands of students are on lockdown, some enforced by security and the threat of fines, in a bid to curb the rise in the number of cases on campus.
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden has said students should be allowed home by Christmas, if they follow the guidelines and adhere to social distancing restrictions.
In a letter sent out by Manchester City Council, it is reported that at least 99 students at MMU have tested positive for Covid-19, prompting the university to lock down Birley Hall and Cambridge Hall student accommodation.
Some 1,700 Manchester Metropolitan University students have been confined to their rooms for two weeks, even if they have no symptoms.
Police and security guards were outside Birley and Cambridge Halls on Friday while the university warned disciplinary action will be taken against any breaches.
And while the lockdown has proved controversial, with calls for tuition fee refunds and questions raised about how enforceable it is, the university is facing fresh backlash for asking students to remove messages they've put up in their windows.




Students display signs in windows at Manchester Metropolitan University's Cambridge Halls

Students at Manchester Metropolitan University have been told to isolate within their Halls of Residence for 14 days after several Coronavirus outbreaks were identified across the campus

The note sent to students of Manchester Metropolitan University with messages in the window
'Please ensure these are removed asap.'
Members of the public have criticised the message with many saying it was inappropriate.
Media Law expert David Banks said: 'Manchester Metropolitan University might have had no choice but to tell 1,700 students in halls to self-isolate.
'But what right do they have to tell them to remove signs in their windows? Someone on their comms team needs to get a grip and stop this spinning into a PR disaster...'
Labour MP Caroline Flint said: 'How stupid to tell students confined to their block to take down posters.
'I'm minded to put one up in solidarity. Protest posters vary in quality & wit but are part of being a student - still got this one from 1983.
'Leaving home for the first time isn't easy in the best of times. Sharing kitchens & other space with strangers.
'Everybody wants to get to know people on their course & through clubs/societies.
'That means socialising you don't need to be brain of Britain to know this.'
Meanwhile, legal experts have questioned how enforceable the measures in place at the halls of residence are.
A number of Manchester Metropolitan University students self-isolating in a Covid-19 lockdown have raised claims they are being falsely imprisoned.
Lawyers at a chambers which specialises in human rights and civil liberties have also questioned the legality of security staff enforcing the 14-day isolation of 1,700 students at two accommodation blocks in the city.
While a Liverpool-based law firm appealed through social media to students at Birley campus and Cambridge Halls to seek its help 'pro bono'.
Students described being scared and confused as their accommodation was locked down on Friday after 127 people tested positive for coronavirus.
Bosses at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) told students that following discussions with Public Health England and Manchester City Council, the decision was 'deemed necessary' to prevent the spread of the virus to other students, staff or the local community.
The university added: 'We appreciate this self-isolation period will present difficulties for you, especially coming so soon after your arrival at the university.



'We are here to support you, and our staff are working hard with local partners to make this period more manageable for you.'
On Sunday, Dominic Waddell, 21, a first-year filmmaking student, said: 'I have heard people mentioning claims of false imprisonment.
'There's a great deal of anger, people aren't very happy with how the university's run it, considering we're the ones that allow them to keep running because we're the ones that give them this money and now they're locking us in the homes we're paying for so it's very frustrating.
'People are trying to make the most of it, playing board games and watching TV with your flatmates but I don't really see how long we can keep that up with all these new people that you barely know - it's going to be pretty difficult to keep a lifted spirit.'
Adam Wagner, a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, said he was 'dubious to say the least' about the possible legal basis of the student lockdown.
He tweeted: 'If there are students (or parents of students) who are being detained in their accommodation blocks by security staff, I would suggest urgently requesting confirmation of the precise legal authority they think they are acting under.'
His colleague, fellow barrister Rabah Kherbane, tweeted: ' The idea of an immediate notice, large-scale effective imprisonment of first-year students, with 24-hour enforcement by accommodation security, is slightly surreal. The LA (local authority) has not clarified powers/conditions met.
'@ManMetUni please inform your students they can seek legal advice.'
Gateshead-based lawyer Kevin Robertson said: 'Anybody tell me the legal basis on which students are being prevented from leaving their blocks?
'Do the CV19 regs permit this forcible detention and if so could that mean anybody could be prevented from leaving their home/street/postcode? Genuine question.'
Activist lawyer Paul Brennan pointed to recent legislation which gave local councils the power to shut down premises, but noted: 'These Regs only enable the [local authority] to give directions in order to close premises, restrict entry or restrict the location of people while inside them.
'The Courts won't interpret them as giving [them] the right to incarcerate people. Besides, the notice requirements have not been met.'






It comes as students and parents have started to demand tuition fee refunds as universities abandon face-to-face teaching because of Covid outbreaks.
As in Manchester, thousands of freshers are currently locked down in their rooms across the UK, as rising cases of the virus devastates the start of term.
The intake has already endured the summer grading fiasco and some are now stuck inside while being charged up to £9,250-a-year in tuition fees, plus rent.
Larissa Kennedy, president of the National Union of Students, told the Mail on Sunday: 'In what is looking set to be an increasingly unclear and volatile year for universities, we must seriously look at reimbursements for students whose quality of learning has been significantly impacted.
'It is also essential that housing providers allow students who may decide to either leave university or return to family homes to end their rental contracts and not be penalised for making decisions based on their own safety and those of local communities.'

A university security guard takes the details of students leaving the halls at Manchester Metropolitan University this morning during a lockdown of their accommodation due to Covid

Students at university of Manchester are pictured at their window during lockdown. The intake has already endured the summer grading fiasco and some are now stuck inside while being charged up to £9,250-a-year in tuition fees, plus rent

One flat displayed the message 'mental health comes first. Let us out' on their window

Some 1,700 MMU students are among those who have been instructed to self-isolate for 14 days following a spike in Covid-19 cases. Pictured: Students in Manchester

Asda and Tesco arrived at Cambridge Halls of Residence in Manchester for lockdown students
At least 32 universities in the UK now have confirmed coronavirus cases with about 3,000 students from Dundee to Exeter in isolation.
Shadow education secretary Kate Green has written to her opposite number Gavin Williamson, urging him to 'promise' students that such restrictions will not be imposed.
She said it would be 'deeply unfair to see students forced to remain in their student accommodation' and asked Mr Williamson to 'work with universities to ensure every student has access to testing to allow a safe journey home' for Christmas.
Ms Green also asked the Education Secretary to consider a delay to the start of term or a 'pause in migration' for universities where term has not yet begun to allow improvements in testing capacity and remote learning provisions.
In a statement, she said: 'Leaving home to go to university should be a momentous and exciting step for young people and their families.
'Universities have done all they can to prepare for students' safe return, but the Government has again let young people down.
'It is unthinkable that students will be locked in their rooms and unable to return home to spend Christmas with their families.


'The Government must promise that this will not happen, and work with universities to enable every student to access tests so that they can travel home safely.'
The University and College Union has called on MMU to move the majority its teaching online immediately as currently this is just offered for foundation and first year students.
In a statement, UCU regional official Martyn Moss said: 'We warned that that not enough was being done to make campuses safe and that the mass return of students would inevitably see institutions become Covid incubators.
'Instead of heeding our warnings, universities pushed the idea that students could return to open 'Covid-secure' campuses.
'Universities should have spent the summer following the science and preparing properly for this inevitable crisis, instead of trying to sell the idea of a normal university experience to students.
'Ministers and universities must not try to use students as scapegoats for a wholly predictable crisis of their own making.'
The union said responsibility for the current crisis also lay with the government and criticised a funding model it said forced universities to put financial concerns ahead of the safety of students, staff and the wider community.
Liverpool Hope University and Liverpool John Moores have also moved the majority of teaching online as cases rise nationally.
Reports of positive tests and students isolating at Leeds University surfaced as more students arrive for the start of term. A walk-through testing centre has been set up in a sports centre on campus.

Security at MMU's Birley Hall campus prevent a man from entering the locked down building

Students display signs questioning their fees in the windows at Manchester Metropolitan University's Cambridge Halls

Supplies are delivered to students at Manchester Metropolitan University's Cambridge Halls

Jess Cook, a parent from Kent, whose son has just started at the institution, said: 'What a waste of £9,000. It is miserable for them.
'There should definitely be some kind of fee discount, but universities need support from the Government.
'Universities were under huge pressure to take the kids in and have done what they were supposed to do to try to keep them safe.'
Simon Thomas, the ex Blue Peter and Sky Sports presenter, described the situation as a 'shambles'.
He said: 'If my son was locked inside a hall of residence at university and was struggling mentally like so many are - I'd get in my car and go and get him immediately.
'And if anyone stopped me I'd tell them I'm invoking the Cummings amendment. What an utter shambles.'
In Scotland, thousands of students are isolating after 172 cases were confirmed at the University of Glasgow and 120 at Edinburgh Napier University.

Student packs up and heads home from Strathclyde University despite being on lockdown

A student stands outside Manchester Metropolitan University's Birley campus accomodation

One student, 18, who has now been isolating for nearly a monthsays that catching coronavirus after returning to university was 'inevitable'. The teenager is staying in an eight-person flat in Glasgow University's Murano Street Student Village, which houses 1,175 students

A student walks past a sign at Murano Street Student Village in Glasgow, where university students are being tested at a pop up test centre
Across the country, they have been told not to go to pubs, restaurants or parties and Universities Scotland has warned that students who socialise outside of their households risk losing their place.
At Edinburgh University, police were called to break up parties on Friday night at Pollock Halls, a main students' residence housing about 1,900 undergraduates.
Glasgow University announced yesterday it would refund all students in halls of residence one month's rent, along with a £50 payment for food. 'We are offering everyone in our residences, regardless of whether they are isolating or not, a one-month rent refund to compensate for the disruption they are facing, and any financial hardship they may have encountered,' the principal, Professor Sir Anton Muscatell said.

At least a dozen other universities in England and Wales have brought in their own testing facilities to monitor for potential outbreaks Calls are now growing for similar moves elsewhere. Robert Halfon, chairman of the Commons Education Committee, said: 'Definitely they should be getting a discount on the cost of their tuition loan if they aren't getting a significant amount of face-to-face teaching.'
He also warned that stopping students from returning home over the Christmas break would cause 'huge anguish'.
Nick Hillman, the director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, questioned the decision by some vice-chancellors to halt face-to-face teaching, saying: 'If teaching is moved online, it almost encourages students to go back home.'
He added that while calls for refunds grow, the difficulty for universities is that high-quality virtual teaching is no cheaper to deliver than in-person teaching and some universities are already under threat of going bust.
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