What do the list leaders of the Central Student Council want to change?
Within two years, we have established ourselves as the party that fruitfully acts both within the Student Councils and also outside of it. You can think of our Project Major event and booklet series that helped hundreds of students decide which academic and professional field to pursue. But also of the policies––such as blind grading, mid-course evaluation, accessible menstrual products and tutoring, and oat milk in your coffee, among many others––that our representatives have passed in the Council.
We are so successful thanks to our unique and innovative approach to student politics. Instead of candidates scattered over faculties, 020 has become an organisation with soon almost a hundred members, all working towards the same goal of making the University simply a better place. This means that every vote cast for an 020 candidate is a vote for our whole organisation to keep growing and enacting the change we need.
The Free Student has for years been a strong advocate for improving the quality of our education and the expansion of students’ freedom of choice. Our core ideals are rationalism, pragmatism, and individual freedoms. We look after the interests of all students without letting us be led by opinions derived from ideologies.
Qualitative education and security are our top priorities. Where others advocate for a new type of vegan milk in the coffee machines or another contemplation room, we instead argue the fact that there are not enough study rooms on campus. We want to solve the problems that students actually encounter on the daily, rather than ‘feel good’ policy. That is the goal of DVS within the student councils. Flexible studying, for example, or more power sockets, or more study spaces, etcetera.
INTER is a student party committed to promoting sustainable policies, democratic actions, transparent communication, and due regard for student welfare at the UvA. We are committed to the international spirit of the UvA and want to foster an environment that appeals to both Dutch and International students. For that we believe it is necessary to improve how the UvA communicates, which resources it provides to its (international) students, and to diversify our curricula to not reflect the world of yesterday and today, but prepare us for the world of tomorrow.
Consequently, our curricula should include a wider variety of sources that reflect the rapidly internationalizing world in a multipolar world order, and gives voice to historically marginalized groups. Furthermore, we recognize the burden placed on many through their study-load, extracurriculars, and other things. Therefore, we have been and will continue to advocate for improved mental health resources at the UvA.
The activist party was founded in 2021 to counterbalance the destructive neoliberal policies at the UvA. The party stands for abolition of tuition fees, democratization and social justice & stands with activists to achieve this. It made immediate gains in Humanities. In the past year, the activist party has made achievements in the faculty. It has enforced that votes in the council are transparent, that undemocratic procedures are criticized and avoided as much as possible, and that the council is involved with the student movement.
In all these matters, the council receives a lot of resistance from the faculty administration, reflecting the skewed balance of power at the UvA. In the coming year, the activist party wants to continue to fight at more faculties to break the rotten administrative culture. For this, it is necessary that students are involved in the decision-making process. The activist party contributes to this by striving for transparency and to stand as a whistleblower, with students, for students.
The New Democrats is a student movement born out of frustration with the current party system at the UvA. From radical, megalomaniac leaderships, to abusive membership fees, student political parties have lost touch with the everyday problems of students. That is why a rethink was necessary. Thus, the NDU was born, its ranks swelling with disillusioned members from all major parties, looking to make a real change. Now is the time for students to hold old parties to account for their lack of transparency and inefficiency. Furthermore, the NDU acknowledges that the decision-making power of the UvA’s faculties is currently insufficient, and thus pushes for a model of decentralization, by which each faculty will best be able to tackle the unique problems of its students.
