Editor’s note: This story was updated Dec. 4 at 2:30 p.m. to reflect STU’s Instagram, and to clarify the resolution’s mention of bed counts.
On Nov. 17, the Burlington City Council approved a resolution requiring UVM Housing and Dining Services to comply with Burlington’s housing code.
The resolution requests UVM and Champlain College to provide data on the total number of housing units, inspected units per year, complaints, and permission to allow City Councilors and members of the Mayor’s Administration to tour residence halls during the 2025-2026 winter break.
The resolution follows weeks of campaigning from the Student Tenant Union, which has hosted weekly meetings and student canvassing events that have gathered hundreds of reports of unsafe conditions across UVM residence halls.
“Just because it’s temporary housing doesn’t mean it has to be terrible housing,” said junior STU Representative Ethan Kieffner.
Formed in 2024, the Student Tenant Union is a non-hierarchical group fighting for better living conditions for UVM students, according to their Instagram.
Marek Broderick, STU representative, city council member, and part-time student, wrote the resolution.
Broderick began working on this issue last October and discovered in February that UVM did not uphold Burlington’s minimum housing code, he said.
“I wanted to run to be the connection point between the students and the government in Burlington,” Broderick said.
In the early stages, UVM was unresponsive and adversarial to the city’s involvement with the issue, according to Broderick.
Amanda Clayton, UVM executive director of facilities management, wrote a letter on Feb. 7 to William Ward, City of Burlington director of permitting and inspections, in an attempt to diffuse the requests.
“The minimum housing standards are outside of the scope for what can be regulated by the municipality, and certification of every aspect of these standards would interfere with the intended functional use of the institution and place an exceptional and undue burden on the University,” Clayton wrote.
In a follow-up letter on Feb. 20, Clayton wrote to certify that UVM’s residence halls are in good condition and fully acceptable for student housing.
With this information, STU began gathering its testimonies, Broderick said.
Junior STU Representative Alva Yanowitz said that STU met with the University administration six times in an attempt to negotiate.
“I think it’s really important for students to know that some of these dorm conditions are not normal. They should not be having to deal with it,” Yanowitz said.
Following administrative pushback, STU continued gathering student testimonies via Instagram and on-campus tabling, now with hundreds of personal stories. Additionally, STU members regularly attended council meetings.
STU attended city council meetings on Oct. 21, held Town Hall on Oct. 30 to gather testimony for the Nov. 3 meeting. On the Nov. 17 vote, students filled half of the council chamber in support of the resolution.
The resolution outlines several new reporting and oversight requirements that UVM and Champlain College must meet. Even though STU is a UVM-focused organization, Champlain College was also included in the resolution because it is under the same ordinances.
According to the agenda materials, both institutions must compile a detailed account of their residential systems, including how dorms are staffed, monitored, and maintained.
Beyond the capacity numbers, it directs the universities to provide the city with the methods they use to handle maintenance problems, including how students submit requests, what system they use to track them, and what happens when an issue isn’t fixed right away.
The goal is to independently verify students’ reports of unsafe conditions rather than rely on university-provided documentation.
“This was an urgent issue that needed to be addressed as soon as possible, and that argument prevailed,” Broderick said.
