Ladies and gentlemen, Elections in the making at UvA: on 16th May, in the light of the Central Student Council Elections (16th-20th May), the leading candidates of the parties presented their vision and their agenda with regard to the university changes. Candidates were asked to answer questions articulated by the two presenters of the Room for Discussion.
Among others, the candidates were asked to describe their perspectives on issues of internationalization, social safety, diversity, and sustainability. They discussed the future of our UvA, our university.
Regarding internationalization, Chiara Zuber from 020 supported that neither Dutch people’s nor international students’ problems must be neglected. They must be equally represented. An inclusive and diverse environment for all students, Dutch and internationals is proposed by Inter and Tessa Trap. For example, proper accommodation is an issue that the majority of internationals face. According to Tessa, UvA has to decide its orientation toward international or Dutch students. On the other hand, Ivar Kracht (Actvistenpartij) considers UvA as a financial institution and as a consequence internationalization is a byproduct of globalization. “A financial institution inevitably wants to grow because finance mobilizes everything.” Ivar continues. De Vrije Student represented by Tuncay Yazar responded to the characterization of UvA as a financial institution. “University is not a matter of money. So, we adopt ’English when needed’”, Tuncay says. A special reference has to be mentioned. Mignon Kroon and the New Democrats UvA are running for the elections but they did not participate in the event.
At some point, the floor was yielded to the audience. Students, getting concerned about university issues, took the floor and expressed their concerns, asked their questions and made up their decision on which party to vote. If you are not sure yet about what to vote for, check more information and parties’ agendas.
Interested in the rest of the debate? Click here to watch it. To get informed about parties’ approaches on the other topics, feel free to press the link below.