{"id":1796,"date":"2023-05-07T19:31:47","date_gmt":"2023-05-07T18:31:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forum.koornbeurs.nl\/?p=1796"},"modified":"2023-05-07T20:31:03","modified_gmt":"2023-05-07T19:31:03","slug":"student-council-elections-be-part-of-the-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forum.koornbeurs.nl\/index.php\/2023\/05\/07\/student-council-elections-be-part-of-the-party\/","title":{"rendered":"Student council elections: Be part of the party!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Emma<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good day my friends,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are on campus regularly, you’ve probably seen them everywhere: those nice signs along the road with slogans like \u201cMore and better study places\u201d, \u201cA swimming pool on campus\u201d, and \u201cGezelligheid before 17:00\u201d. Where do they come from and what do you have to do with them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s time for the student council elections again! On May 10 and 11 you can vote for candidates for the Central Student Council and the council of your study. Sounds important. That’s why I’m here to tell you all about the student council elections; the present, past and future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What exactly does the Student Council do? To quote the TU website (because they will probably know best): \u201cThe Student Council advises the Executive Board on decisions that need to be taken. These include decisions regarding student support and guidance, student regulations and requirements, workspaces and other student facilities.The Student Council also has the right of initiative. This means that the Student Council, assisted by staff members, is able to propose and initiate ideas for improving education and student affairs at TU Delft. Some successful examples include the mechanics and mathematics helpdesk in the university library, and the Collegerama.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each month, the Student Council meets with the Executive Board\u2019s Vice-Rector Magnificus\/Vice-President Education. These meetings are open to everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The history<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The origin of the student council in Delft is actually quite interesting. In the early days, students had no real influence on decision-making in higher education. Not just not in the Netherlands, nowhere in Europe. In the 1960s, this started to cause more and more unrest among the students, which derailed in May 1968 in the Paris Student Revolt (fun fact: Not only students participated in the student revolt. High school students were also part of the protests). This spurred the Dutch students to also go on strike and protest against the lack of democracy. Although the students of the university in Tilburg were the first to move to occupy several university buildings, the main protest took place about a year later. On May 16, 1969, some 500 students decided to occupy the Maagdenhuis, the administration building of the University of Amsterdam, to demand that all university policy documents be made public. In addition, they demanded participation at all levels of decision-making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Netherlands, all these protests eventually resulted in the Law on University Administrative Reform (called WUB in Dutch, for the Wet op de Universitaire Bestuurshervorming) in 1970. \u201cAccording to the WUB, the board of the university\/university college consists of the university\/university college council, as the highest body, and the executive board. The University Council (UR for Universiteitsraad) mainly has a general administrative task; budget, regulations and regulation changes require ministerial approval.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, this turned out not to work very well, so the unrest continued to reign. Over the years, the Executive Board (CvB for College van Bestuur) gained more and more power through various changes in the WUB, which resulted in a lot of dissatisfaction between the UR, the CvB and various University Council factions. In 1997, the University Management Organization Modernization Act (MUB for Modernisering Universitaire Bestuursorganisatie) came into effect. As a result, the Executive Board became the administrative body, assisted by a Workers Council (employees) and a Student Council (students).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At present, TU Delft is one of the few universities in the Netherlands to have a full-time Student Council, TU Delft claims on their website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okay, that’s enough bullshit about history. Maybe it’s time to talk about the parties and their candidates you can vote for on May 10 and 11. Go vote. Voting is important. This is your <\/em>student life (assuming you study at TU).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The (history of the) parties<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may have already seen it from the beautiful campaign signs on campus, but this year there is a new party (in addition to Lijst B\u00e8ta and ORAS): D\u00e9 Partij!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I just lied a little. Because I find the history very interesting, here is a short summary of all parties since the establishment of the Student Council. ORAS has been active in the student council since the beginning of time, even though they started under the name SGC (Studenten Centrum Groep) as a counterpart to AAG (Department of Action Group). For a long time these were the only two parties, but this year \u201cis not the first time that three parties stand in TU Delft\u2019s Student Council elections. This was also the case in 1999 when dissatisfaction about the two parties that jointly formed the Student Council \u2013 Oras and AAG \u2013 led to the birth of Project Blauw. It won one seat on the Student Council, but after one year had to stand down for lack of successors. AAG stopped in 2008. Het Principe (\u2018the principle\u2019) then came forward as the students behind it felt that there should be a choice. One year later, Het Principe disappeared and AAG returned. In 2010, AAG definitively stopped. Oras then represented the Student Council on its own. One year later, Lijst B\u00e8ta joined.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So this year you can vote for ORAS, List B\u00e8ta or D\u00e9 Partij. Exciting. What are their views and what have they achieved so far?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the TU Delft Student Council consists of ten students, I will only discuss the first ten members of each party, their slogans and any goals. All thirty feels like overkill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ORAS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ORAS has been around the longest of the three parties, so it is logical that they have achieved the most over the years. The real question is what ORAS has achieved for the students in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A nice image for this, because ORAS can tell what they have achieved much better than I can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

ORAS has the following candidates:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Maud Reinders<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • Slogan: \u201cWorld-class engineer\u201d<\/li>
  • Goals
    • Maintain and improve international reputation and status<\/li>
    • Implementing Virtual Reality in education<\/li>
    • Only pay per course you follow<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      2. Matthijs van Teeffelen<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      • Slogan: \u201cTime for development\u201d<\/li>
      • Goals
        • Recognition certificates for extra curricular activities<\/li>
        • More financial compensation and more flexible education for extra-curricular activities<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

          3. Alexandra Schelling<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          • Slogan: \u201cSustainable, of course!\u201d<\/li>
          • Goals
            • Free up more money for climate-positive buildings and renovations<\/li>
            • Climate-neutral printing on the entire campus<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

              4. Jelle Stap<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              • Official English slogan: \u201cWellbeing matters!\u201d<\/li>
              • Slogan translated from Dutch: \u201cComfortable in your own skin\u201d<\/li>
              • Goals
                • Student welfare and social safety always as a priority<\/li>
                • No waiting times for student psychologists<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                  5. Jozua Heule<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                  • Slogan: \u201cYour perfect campus\u201d<\/li>
                  • Goals
                    • A padel court on campus (hasn’t it been built recently on X?)<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                      6. Tessa Hartog<\/p>\n\n\n\n