April 2018 by The Boomerang

The

Boomerang April 2018

UCSA: APPLICATIONS OVER ELECTIONS by Reinoud Pino

The problem

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Without reading any of the election statements we can make a fairly educated guess what the majority of them will say. Chances are that mental health, a lack of attendance to events and transparency will once again have a prominent place. Sure, there will be some variation depending on the position they’re running for. If you look up the election statements by candidates running for chair, out of the 5 statements you can find, 4 talk about how attendance to events is too low. Similarly for the secretary position, 4 out of 6 statements mention the need for an improvement of the communication towards UCSA members. Of course, the way they approach these problems is always slightly different, but the essence

you’re not going to fix UCSA in a year

remains the same. On top of that, when there are new and original ideas, these are rarely executed. Is this something we should blame the candidates for? No, I don’t think so. I do believe that the recurring issues are the most important problems the UCSA faces and must be addressed. The This article continues in our election section

Illustrations © Lotte Schuengel

pg. 8

THE MASTERS’ DILEMMA by Thomas Scassellati Sforzolini, Márton Végh

pring semester has come and a spectre is haunting the UCU campus again – the spectre of master’s applications. Even the most isolated first year students cannot avoid catching conversations from their anxious older peers complaining about the difficulties in applying for a master’s program with a degree in Liberal Arts and Sciences. While liberal arts education is dominant in the US and gaining 90-97% continue with more popumaster’s program larity in the UK, most continental European universities still require students to have the majority of their credits in one discipline in order to enter a graduate program in the field. This can be especially worrying in light of the fact that the majority of Euro-

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Cover Illustration ©Amu Endo

pean LAS students acknowledge that their chances of succeeding in the job market would suffer without a master’s degree. There is a conspicuous contrast between the prestige of University College education and the real opportunities of LAS degree holders. The Dutch public generally regards University Colleges as elite institutions. They distinguish themselves from regular university through the selective admissions process, higher entry requirements, and higher workload. Still, soon to be UCU graduates worry about getting admitted into a suitable master’s program. Most of us don’t doubt the internal merits of studying at UCU. At the same

Illustrations © Samantha Dharamraj

article continues on next page

in this edition…

• Dining Hall Meal Plan • The Presidency of Xi Jinping

• Tegami: Fashion Show

• Interview with UCSA candidates

The Boomerang | April 2018

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time, we feel that we are not given the added recognition of studying here. Let us not forget that this is the Honors Liberal Arts and Science College of a world renowned University (UU is ranked 47th in the Shanghai World University rankings), and while the workload here is clearly indicative of an honors college it is unclear whether or not we receive the recognition of an honors college. Perhaps it is the fact that we have a Liberal Arts and Science degree.

they lacked the sufficient knowledge, courses or credits. This might be because many UCU graduates apply for Master programmes at the world’s top 200 universities. Many of these graduates were admitted to a different master’s program or were still able to take some extra courses (for example in the form of a pre-master’s), usually overcoming deficiencies in less than three months. In the end, only a tiny minority of students decided against continuing their university education. When we referred to the struggles of In order to see if the university had any psychology students and asked her about the answers, we chose to contact Judith Hoog- types of programs to which UCU students moed. Judith Hoogmoed is in charge of have the lowest chance of successfully UCU alumni relations and thus knows a applying to, she emphasized pedagogy, but thing or two about life after UCU. We first also highlighted that the admissions situainquired Hoogmoed about any relevant tion has improved in recent years. facts and figures regarding master’s admissions. Although, figures about admissions To sum up, we can see that our alumni are available on the website, the last time an officer is not too worried about the future alumni survey was conducted and adminis- of UCU students and she has evidence to tered publically was in 2011. Fortunately, she back it up. However, simply labeling student could share a few more recent facts with us. fears as fake news would be ludicrous. Her According to a more recent general alumni advice was that students should start talking survey, admission to master’s programmes about potential master’s programs with their is currently not a serious issue for UCU and tutors, preferably already in their second UC graduates in general. The overwhelming year. She also expressed that, ultimately, the majority, 90 - 97%, continue with a master’s freedom of LAS education requires individual program and around 80% said that they had responsibility. She recommends students to no issues with entering a new study program. start researching by themselves, using the Judith Hoogmoed also told us that around a services of the Future Centre, and designing quarter of those who were rejected to their their curriculum in a way that takes potenmaster’s program of choice were told that tial entry requirements into account.

To conclude this topic, we asked a graduating third year about her experience applying to master’s programs and if she had any advice to the Lowerclassmen: “There were many times that I was daunted by the fact that I had not met many of the psychology master’s requirements, despite graduating with psychology as my main track. I even sent out emails asking whether particular courses I took at UCU were sufficient, only to hear that it would be unlikely that they would be enough. In the end, I did get accepted into a master’s program so all hope is not lost. I know that many fellow UCU psychology graduates also struggle(d) with finding a master’s program to get into, so my advice to future graduates is to find a direction by the end of your first year. Start looking at what your next step after UCU will be and plan your semesters so that you can attain the requirements by then. In some cases you may have to resort to taking UU courses to meet these requirements. In other cases, taking that statistics 300 course could prove to be of great help! You can always leave some room to explore of course since UCU gives us that advantage. Just be sure to still give yourself some direction because these three years go by quicker than you think, and the next thing you know, you’ll have to be take your next step.”

Lads and Lasses, Let me not start this editorial by talking about the beautiful weather. Or about how excited I am for the new Boomerang*. Instead, I would like to jump right into this week’s topic. My fundamental hate of parentheses, also called brackets. Completely irrational, you might think. But trust me, there are very good reasons for avoiding this cancer of syntax and express what you wanted to say in a more elegant way. Why do some writers use brackets? One reason is adding information to a sentence that apparently is not essential enough to either be joined to the sentence or stand by itself. If you find yourself using such parentheses, try replacing them by commas or formulating a separate sentence. (wWorks in 95% of all cases.) If that destroys the clarity of your argument, delete it. The extra information wasn’t necessary to begin with. Your readers will thank you. Another reason is laziness. Translating the confused thunderstorm of thoughts whizzing about in our brains into clear, pleasant, structured writing, is hard work. It takes much thinking, trying, and editing, all of them uncomfortable activities in themselves. How easy is it in comparison to just squirt every single excrement of your cluttered mind into its own little dead-end street? Easy for the writer, harsh on the reader. Readers want writing that gets the point across elegantly, without being reminded of the infinite association chains unsuccessfully contained by the writer. Mark Twain wrote: “A parenthesis is evidence that the man who uses it does not know how to write English or is too indolent to take the trouble to do it.” So, dear readers and writers, do us all, and whoever may read your writing a favour. Scrap the brackets and start getting your point across. Thank you,

Clemens Schally Editor-in-Chief

Are you fed up with UCU’s PC culture? Got something to say, but you wanna keep your friends? Come to the writers’ meeting. Monday, April 23rd. BOOMERANG BLACKS OUT. STAY ANONYMOUS.

A University College Student Association Magazine

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I SHOWED MY PARENTS THE DINING HALL MEAL PLAN FLYER AND HERE IS WHAT HAPPENED by Lotte Schuengel

couple of weeks ago, those of us who regularly open their mailboxes were surprised to find a small flyer, titled ‘Meal Plan’, signed ‘sincerely, Dining Hall’. “No more worrying if your son or daughter eats healthy during his or her time at college?” it said. Reading it confused me. I tried to think of any son or daughter that I might have, whose diet I worry about. But nobody came to mind. My unitmate’s mom’s son did, though.

target the students with this proposal. I’m willing to bet that there are some students around here who have spent at least 75 euros at either Jazzmans or Dining Hall. I have bought something at Jazzman’s four times now and it has already cost me 20 euros. It would actually be beneficial to be able to save money on either food or just loads of coffee. But with these flyers lying around, a Meal Plan card is a bit embarrassing.

With the flyer tucked in some page of my agenda, I didn’t think about it much, until I arrived home on one particular Friday. I emptied my bag, and the flyer fell out, right in front of my mom. She picked it up and read it. I saw the expression of worry grow more intense as she read on. Maybe I am the son or daughter, I realised. It all made sense. “Well, I sure am not paying. But you could ask grandpa.” I wonder if anyone is actually subscribed to the meal plan. It would drive such a strange schism between students. We would have Meal Plan-students and non-Meal Plan students, and very likely a social hierarchical construction built around the assumption that Meal Plan-students severely lack autonomy. But in this hypothetical divided version of UCU, the non-Meal Plan students are not the first to make this assumption. It’s actually Sodexo itself looking down on the entire campus with a mixture of pity and concern. They have been on this campus for quite a while now, and apparently they have seen so many unhealthy looking students that they have concluded that it would be best to inform the parents before anyone starves to death during a hike on the quad. It’ll come as a given that students - UCU or not - are not the richest people and some could actually use some subscription to cheap food at any moment. I just don’t understand why they don’t

Illustration © Lise Derksen

CAMPUS’ HUMMUS OBSESSION by Marie Claessen

riends of mine will confirm, when asked, that I am open to different foods and what to dip them into. Some might even say too open. I’ll dip anything into everything. Name it, and I’ve probably combined it. I’m talking about lasagne in soup, instant noodles in peanut butter, and pancakes in carbonara. So as you can see, I’m pretty okay with most forms of food dipping. But if there is one thing I refuse to dip my food into, it’s hummus. I don’t like hummus. There. I’ve said it. And it shouldn’t be a big deal. Except it is. Because I live on a hummus-obsessed campus and it is becoming increasingly difficult to escape the obsession. There are hummus tubs everywhere, and I’m dead serious when I say this. I was in the auditorium, and what do I find backstage? Hummus. It’s everywhere. There is not a single fridge which doesn’t contain at least 1 tub of hummus. In fact, most fridges probably average around 5 tubs. And it doesn’t end here. Against all laws of physics, hummus has the ability to replicate itself throughout the whole fridge until there is nothing Illustration © Lise Derksen

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I’ll dip anything into everything

but hummus in it. There’s no room for my milk, but who cares? There’s now a happy family of hummus tubs residing in my fridge door, whilst my milk can go bad outside.

Ask a friend to have breakfast with you, and they’ll whip out a tub of hummus. Ask a friend to have lunch with you, and they’ll whip out a tub of hummus. Ask a friend to have dinner with you, and they’ll whip out a tub of hummus. As soon as I complain about being hungry, someone will mention they have hummus for me. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the kindness, but this hummus obsession is getting out of hand. There was even a hummus party hosted in my unit. I don’t understand why people would want to have this. I mean, why would anyone want to dip food with their hands like a pre-schooler? At least when I dip, I’m refined and use a spoon. And sure, it’s healthy, but there are plenty of other healthy foods out there that don’t look like pre-chewed food. (continued)

The Boomerang | April 2018

BUBBLE sweet svensations by Sven Bosma

Your monthly dessert: a sweet little nugget of Sven’s brain.

THE DO’S AND DON’TS OF MEETING YOUR GIRLFRIEND’S MOTHER

torytime: Over the Easter break I decided to induce high levels of anxiety in myself, through the good cause of flying down to southern France to meet my girlfriend’s mother and sisters. Admittedly, I didn’t go in with much preparation concerning the guidelines for such an event, so here you have something that might be helpful for you, my dear Reader: some Do’s and Don’ts for your own experience, which can be extended to any in-laws.

hundreds of bottles over the past years, and have perfected my technique, but in the high-stakes game of Meet Mother, my nerves were shot and I blew it. I broke the cork, leaving about a third of it firmly in the neck of the bottle, from where it silently mocked me. My girlfriend’s youngest sister, the only witness to this atrocity, gave me a look of pity. In the end, it worked out, and we enjoyed some (for me) much-needed wine.

So right off the bat, you’ve just got one foot in the door, Do wait for them to indicate how they are going to greet you. Don’t be like me, going in for an unexpected hug while the mother had prepared for something simpler (I decided to put myself out there and go for the fluffy hug). But, I failed to account for the optics of a bearded, six-foot, 170lb lad going in for a bear-hug on a five-foot, 100lb lady. Picture if you will…

In the unlikely event you didn’t know this, Don’t stab your better half with a knife while making sushi. I didn’t mess up this bad, but there was a close call in the kitchen with multiple people bustling about, manning their respective stations. Add to this list of Don’ts the obvious don’t insult anyone until the second meeting, don’t walk around in just a towel, don’t get drunk and hit on grandma; the basics really.

Next, Do make sure that you disclose the fact that you understand their language, in my case French. I’m not fluent, but I understand almost everything coming by, at least the gist of the message. So, if someone were to talk shit in front of you, and you have an issue swallowing your pride and being polite in defending yourself, then I can imagine it would be best to save yourself the headache and come forth about your hidden knowledge. For the record, there wasn’t cause for any shit-talk towards me.

In the end, I’d say it was a reasonably successful trip, barring the one small issue of having to reconcile with myself the fact that I’m a nervous/shy pooper, making for a slight degree of discomfort, but nothing major. The whole family was lovely and I had a great time. There’s only really one thing you should do: Do be yourself, people come around to honesty. That being said, if, like in my case, your beard makes up 50% of your personality, Don’t shave it to seem like a clean-cut guy. I didn’t and it makes the perfect topic in moment of conversational lulls.

Actually, there might have been one reason, and it has to do with the following event/rule. Don’t make a mess out of removing the cork from the wine bottle, when charged with just that one simple task. Especially in a French household. I’ve opened

I guess that if all else fails, Do try to be amicable with the sisters, they’re usually fun and if they like you they’ll help you deal with Mother.

TEGAMI: DIVERSE, VIBRANT, AVANT-GARDE

by Anahi Saravia Herrera

or honesty’s sake I have to admit, that going into TEGAMI I didn’t set the bar very high. Not to say that I expected it to be bad, but when one envisions a student-led fashion show – you have certain ideas about what that will entail (read: everyone tie dyes their t-shirts, some people do face paint, everyone wears ready-made clothes). Having only been to one other UCU fashion show before, in 2016, I can’t remember anything about the designers, the models or the clothes – only how uncomfortable sitting on the floor of the BPA was. From the get go, TEGAMI promised to be different. Maybe it was the creativity with which their PR was carried out – the pictures, the interviews, the posters. Or the fact that it was held off campus at Utrechts Centrum voor de Kunsten. All of it made it sound like an event, and not just like another night spent on the floor of the BPA, holding the bowl of leftover fried rice that you couldn’t finish before the show. The sense that this was an event, was

felt the moment you made your way to the show at 7 p.m., as you saw people leaving UCU with strappy heels or polo shirts, none of which would have actually been worn to fashion week, but all of which were worn with the panache of a crowd going somewhere special. Once inside, a total of fourteen collections were presented, with a short talk from the designers about their creations. While I can’t say that all clothes were pin free and runway ready, weirdly this was what mattered least. There seemed to be a genuine interest in presenting something interesting. It was the moment that Martin Crasborn entered the stage wearing nothing but a cut up ski suit (made by Emma Nauta) that I thought: This is either really great or really bad, but in either case it’s interesting and I think I like it. The rest of the show followed suit from Rebecca Laurent’s “ Jo(e)” collection of shirt and denim with faces splattered all over the sides, to the crowd favourite ready-to-wear line, “ANNA+ ZON ZON+ ANNA” (made by,

you guessed it, Zon van der Vorm and Anna Taimr) who had a total of eleven models wearing upcycled pieces embellished with stitched nude silhouettes on the ready-towear shirts and sweaters. Slightly more avant-garde were Daisy Howarth’s pieces worn by Martin and Florence Dickinson, a couple who in my opinion almost stole the show in their matching beige tartan sets, Martin wearing a customized crop top and skirt, and Florence wearing a contemporary take on a suit, featuring a cape. Florence was also sporting what was probably the best make-up of the show, wearing a look somewhere between a clown and a Picasso sketch. She half-strutted, half-ran down the catwalk, with intermittent poses for dramatic effect, almost too quickly for me to see “GOD IS A SHE” written on the pocket of her suit – I couldn’t agree more. Also a stand out was the performance by Johanna von Winning, wearing Allison Hartman’s pompom bra (that I very nearly bought), from the glitter on her face to the

A University College Student Association Magazine

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African roots. They made a total of seven outfits, all using the most vibrant fabrics in the show, to create well tailored clothes that actually looked ready-to-wear. This is also true of the Arab-inspired “Qurbat” collection by Aneeqah Tariq. But in this category, the designer that seemed to blow everyone out of the water was Martin, who made two collections and a

total of eight outfits, entirely from scratch. I’m not talking simple wrap skirts here, it’s jumpsuits, structured shirts, well stitched kimonos and even an industrial inspired floor length dress, worn by Manolis Mar who knew how to work the clothes and the crowd all while wearing seven inch heels. I could go on and mention all the designers and models, but my words are up and my knowledge of fashion is limited. So let me just leave it at this. I think what is most important to say is that TEGAMI surprised me and the rest of the audience, giving us food for thought. From gender neutral clothes to collections that spoke of diversity, it was every t hi n g but the donation bin recycled and put on a do-it-yourself runway in some back corner of UCU campus. Illustrations © Amu Endo

VIOLENCE AT UCU by Yannick Overzee “We all know that UCU is not always the safe space we sometimes imagine it to be. Anyone that ever looked at our confessions can attest to this. But do we know the extent of it? And do we know where it happened? In order to get a clearer idea about this, we are asking for your input. Attached is a map of UCU, all you need to do is place a pin a the location(s) you have experienced violence or general unsafety. […]”

hese past few days, this message has circulated on the UCU Students and the UCAA Facebook pages. Within five days, the map was seen more than 1000 times, and around 50 pins were dropped all over campus. The quality of this does not reside in sheer numbers. Anyone that took a moment to read the messages associated to the pins will have seen that violence on our dear campus is widespread. It’s also very varied; among the types of violence reported, sexual violence was most prevalent, but not in the least limited to it. It is not about UCU being a place more violent than others. We are a part in a violent world. Showing violence, is showing vulnerability. A lot of people won’t speak of the violence they experience and would rather forget about it and deal with it themselves, instead of making it present in their lives. But we also see a multitude of confessions daily where people

show a willingness to share. And what do we get out of it? Solidarity! If we are the bubble that we claim to be, why don’t we come together around the violence we all seem to experience? If we are the considerate people we all want to be seen as, why is our compassion so superficial? Even in our safe space, we are not safe. But this does not at all mean we all need to be scared, looking around each corner before stepping out from behind it. Acknowledging that this violence exists is fighting the taboo that it is. From there, we can fight this violence, and we can heal. Our perception of it as a safe space hides our violence, and that is when violence gets away with what it does. The people that put the pins down know this. The people that speak freely of the violence they experienced experience this. And the people that open themselves up to the potentiality of violence understand this. By understanding violence we ready ourselves for it, and loosen the ties it has on us. The map was a first step. The information it offered was extremely meaningful. But of course it did not fill with all the violence that ever happened on this campus. Acknowledging violence is violent, but necessary to change the source of it. For this reason, we all have to extend our confrontation to it.

The Boomerang | April 2018

WORLD

saskia sticks to politicks by Saskia Vrensen

TOURIST WEED CULTURE: SPARK IT UP

eed isn’t even legal in the Netherlands, which you wouldn’t guess from all of the marijuana merch on sale in pretty much every street of every major Dutch city. In fact, there exists only a policy of tolerance towards ‘soft drugs’, namely weed, hash and sleeping pills. The system was revamped in the late twentieth century because it was considered unrealistic to continue policing the use of marijuana, instead of focusing on strict regulations on hard drugs. A law introduced in 2013, which due to local protests, is only applied in Zeeland, Noord Brabant and Limburg, allows only those with a Dutch ID to enter a coffeeshop. It is interesting to consider tourists’ interactions with the weed culture here and how it differs from locals’ smoking habits. Also, what coffeeshop employees, weed dealers if you will, think about tourists who see the Netherlands solely as a place to smoke a fat J. When deciding which coffeeshop I should choose in order to avoid a very uncomfortable and awkward interview, I skipped over Andersom, the one on the Oudegracht with a strange chandelier made out of toilet pipes, and instead went for the more approachable Culture Boat. In Utrecht, the restrictions don’t limit tourists from entering coffeeshops, but then again

there aren’t many tourists in Utrecht to begin with. I asked the man working at the bar how he felt about so many tourists only coming to the Netherlands for the weed, rather than to experience the riveting Dutch culture. His response was that ‘all tourists’ only come for the weed, and honestly who wouldn’t smoke up every day when pretty much the only tourist attraction in Utrecht is the Dom. Weed culture is very different for those who grew up in the Netherlands, and those who did not. The policy of tolerance makes smoking less of a stigma and a more casual event; no need to sit in the back of some dodgy drug dealer’s mum’s Fiat to pick up a few grams for an extortionate price, because you can just pop to the local coffeeshop. Tourists or newly arrived immigrants to the Netherlands experience weed culture very differently. Because of its ready accessibility, tourists often take full advantage of coffeeshops’ weed supplies, getting high every day simply because they can. Maybe to those living here, tourists’ interactions with Dutch weed culture seem excessive. But maybe we should cut them some slack; if they’re so desperate to spark up a doobie with the lads on the canals of ‘Dam’, who are we to stop them?

A University College Student Association Magazine

WORLD

BREAKING: WINNIE THE POOH OBTAINS PRESIDENCY FOR LIFE by Esther Chavannes

i Jinping got made president for life, and everyone in the West freaked out because they were so surprised.

normal circumstances, in reality this isn’t as relevant as dramatic headlines and panicky social media users made it seem.

Quick recap of the situation. Xi Jinping is leader of the Communist Party. He is also leader of the Military. This per definition means he is the leader of the country, or at least is the one in power. “President” was something written on a post-it note and stuck to the forehead of Chinese national power politics, so that those of us on the outside know who’s in charge. The presidency is largely a ceremonial position. So brace yourselves, I’m going to write something shocking.

Here’s why

Something shocking This doesn’t change anything in practice. Don’t @ me. Okay to be fair, some people in China also freaked out, but luckily the propaganda machine was oiled as ever, glistening and ready for a fight. Well, less a fight, more a Big Brother v. Baby Bird type skirmish. In honour of the vote, there were some remarkable word bans on the statecontrolled social media platform Weibo and the search engine Baidu, only some of which have been lifted by now. “Two term limit,” “emperor,” “control,” “disagree,” “Animal Farm,” “1984,” Durex’ slogan “doing it twice is not enough,” and lastly, literally every reference to Winnie the Pooh, after some Jinpooh memes surfaced. And again to be fair, while no one was surprised the vote came out a ‘yes’, the majority by which it did so was a bit of a shock. And yet I’ll spend the next few paragraphs explaining why, although this would seem like a power grab under any

As I said in the beginning, Xi Jinping holds the two most important positions. In full, he holds both the post of General Secretary of the General Committee of the Communist Party of China – at the core of the Politburo, pinnacle of Party leadership power – and the post of chairman of the Central Military Commission. These positions hold real power in China, and get this: no re-election limits. The main reason to retain the third and least important position of president is that, internationally speaking, it gives him an ability to meet with other heads of state on an equal footing. Xi Jinping is clearly thinking on a global scale. What with China’s enormous One Belt, One Road Initiative and the fact that Xi has made more overseas trips than any predecessor in a same period of time in power, he is quickly shifting away from late leader Deng Xiaoping’s low profile toward the world stage.

diplomatic spheres. This is both an effective prevention of possible misconceptions on who holds power in China and proof of his unwillingness to be even vaguely accompanied at the political top. While who is president is unimportant, the relevant part of Xi’s decision to retain all power positions indefinitely goes underdiscussed: blurring the line between State and Party that Deng so carefully cultivated. Deng did so in order to prevent the unlimited consolidation of power, as this was seen by the Party as a main reason for political unrest in the era of Mao Zedong. The main fear should lie not in the notion of on-paper presidential term limits, but in the prospect of a return to the unpredictable and arbitrary rule of one man like under Mao. Basically the message is that Xi and his policies are here to stay. This is not a big surprise, but rather it’s an honest admission to the outside world that he is in charge of weird censorship rules, human rights violations, and an ever-widening network of pipelines of money. So in short, look further than superficial headlines proving that the West finds China scary, and go deeper to find it’s actually scarier.

Keeping all three of the titles ensures Xi doesn’t have to share power with some weak premier or other in the

Follow us on Snapchat! 25 April, 7PM @ Dining Hall Lounge: Terra0: Technology in the quest for sustainability, a talk by Max Hampshire

20 - 21 May @ Ruigoord Amsterdam: Ruigmarkt: Market and poetry festival

May 1 @ Downstairs Dining Hall: FocusCo Exhibition: Food Photography

Ends June 24 @ Instituut voor Beeld & Geluid, Hilversum: ‘Nieuws of Nonsens’ an interactive exhibition about (fake) news

14 april - 22 july @ De Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam: World Press Photo Exhibition 2018

21 April - 31 August @ Universiteitsmuseum, Utrecht: Exhibition about bees

Join the Boomerang! Interested in journalism? Half the board is leaving next semester, with positions soon open for Executive Editor, Managing Editor, Communications & Tech, and Art & Design. There will also be a chance to join as a regular contriabutor – a columnist or a cartoonist. Contact us if you’re interested, or want to know more about these jobs.

The Boomerang | April 2018

ELECTIONS continues from the cover...

problem is that almost everyone thinks this, and that to choose our board members on the basis of however slightly different they suggest to change this, despite not having extensive knowledge of the efforts already made, is ludicrous. Besides the fact that it is not a good basis to choose candidates on, it’s also not a great way to make progress. No one running for an election will want to suggest the same approach that has been done before, which is why you get all these marginally different plans. This results in a lack of long term plans which ultimately hinders efforts to solve the issues we face. The fact is, you’re not going to solve big UCSA problems in 1 year. If we want to solve our problems, we should look at the people that know the UCSA best: previous UCSA board members. They should show the new board the best way forward. But if you’re not choosing the new board based on their ideas, what should we base our decision on? My proposition is that we forget about all the refurbished ideas and focus on one thing. Are you the best (wo) man for the job? If we truly want to focus on this, the next question we should ask ourselves as an association is: “Should we still have elections?” Another way To make sense of why we have elections in the first place and to discuss we should go back to the UCSA’s founding in 1999. Maarten Stikkelman, one of the founders of the UCSA, says that the main motivation was the need to create support for the UCSA as a representative body, especially since it was the first student association for a University College in the Netherlands. At that time elections were the best way to prevent an association where who your friends are determines whether or not you get to have a certain position. This would almost certainly lead to a disinterest from those who would not be part of this clique. These are still things to take into consideration today.

What we should also consider is that we haven’t stood still the past 19 years. In that first year there was nothing. There was a need to show that the UCSA was for everyone. Now this is a more established fact and the UCSA has grown to be instrumental in most things on campus. The association has also grown in terms of procedures that safeguard an objective approach to issues, monitored by the Independent Body. It is also important to realise that elections aren’t the standard. It must be said that almost all other UC’s have elections, but since they came after the UCSA it is likely they followed suit to some extent. The large majority of student associations in the Netherlands do not use elections to choose their boards. Some just ask extra active members if they want to be in the new board, others have more extensive selection procedures. For example, Perikles* has a very elaborate process. Candidates submit a resume, a motivation letter and the results of a personality test to a selection committee. The committee consists of two members of the current board, two members of their advisory council and two regular members of the association. The next round is an interview. While running the candidates are anonymous, in order to lower the threshold for applying. The people that are chosen form a candidate board, which gets proposed to the GA, which either accepts or rejects it. I’d propose the UCSA goes with a slimmed down version of this. We can form a team consisting of a number of members of the UCSA board and Independent Body to oversee the selection. They can select through the use of resume, motivation, interview and whatever they feel is necessary to assess who is best suited for the UCSA. Once this has resulted in a possible board, the GA votes whether we want to accept this board. This is basically how our much younger equivalent from Amsterdam, the AUCSA, does it. What do you test? In order to decide which is the best way of testing whether a person is suited for the position, we have to decide which qualities we look for in a UCSA board member. According to Thijs Ringelberg, former chair of the UCSA, there are two things that absolutely must be there. An honest and exten-

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ur predecessors were really passionate, and we were pushed to make ASC bigger and better, really invested, and being on the outside again is really hard,” said Ella Shields, former AAO for ASC 2016-2017. “[being in ASC is] draining, but it’s hard to be like ‘take my baby that I’ve worked so hard on for a year and just go with it.’” Recently, I had the great pleasure of sitting down with both Ella and her former board member Isha Mol, to chat about their experience within ASC, and how that forms their perspective of the current

sive motivation is crucial. You really really really have to want it. Even one unmotivated board member can bring the whole team down. Secondly, you have to be able to compromise, because there will always be things people disagree on. As the board, it is your responsibility to find the middle ground. Thijs says that other necessary skills can be learned during the transition period. As for motivation, an intensive campaign shows that you’re willing to put the time in. How often you’re willing to stand in front of DH with freshly prepared sandwiches does indicate how badly you want to be in the board, to some extent. What we should scrutinize is whether one week of campaigning is a better way of assessing motivation than the amount of time someone puts into the UCSA the whole year round. Then there is the ability to compromise. Having people openly compete against each other for places on the same board doesn’t necessarily allow them to showcase their willingness to compromise. But it must be said that there isn’t really a way to test that in interviews either. There are however also skills which arguably aren’t important for UCSA board members, for which candidates are tested and judged in an election. It is irrelevant for all but one of the board members to be good public speakers. Only the chair speeches on occasion. Debating is an art in itself, but one you will rarely put to use after the election period. Lastly, a certain amount of events are expected when you’re running for the UCSA, and although it is possible to creatively organise these without spending money, it can’t be denied that money does draw attention. What kind of food are you serving at your ‘chat with candidate x’ generally is a talking point, even though it shouldn’t really have anything to do with getting elected. More than all these arguments, this is the most compelling reason to have applications instead of elections: while change and grand ideas are an integral part of any election, they stand in the way of effective progress for the UCSA. *Perikles is the student association for students of Public Administration and Organizational Science

TAKEN TO TASC

by Kyle Daya Gardiner

board. “Introweek [of my ASC year] was hell, because I was also a parent. Advice to the new board: don’t be an introweek parent,” Ella said. Turning to Isha, she asks “What did you think of this year’s events?” “I think they did the same events we did, but changed them around a bit.” Ella explained that they were similar, but lacking some crucial aspects. Is it really relevant for the spring introweek to have a study

A University College Student Association Magazine

ELECTIONS

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Do you want people to know who you are, or do you want them to know what you’re doing?

skills event when the vast majority of participants are third-year exchange students? Neither introweek had a mandatory ‘ASC Essentials’ event covering how to print, log into Osiris, or workspaces, and such similar practical subjects. A unitmate of Isha’s was a parent, but the duty fell on her to pick up the slack when everything hit the fan in the first week of classes. “The UCSA is giving you a chance to do these events, introweek is their thing, and if ASC wants to be a bigger part of it, you need to do your events well,” she said. It’s also students’ first impression of UCU, Ella reminded us, and ASC needs to have a strong image when the overwhelming majority of the week is dominated by the UCSA. “The information that they’re spreading publicly should be better,” Isha said. “No one knows what ASC is doing. Being on the inside last year, I don’t know how clear what we were doing was to students then either, but then they need to say: ‘Hey guys, we’ve been really busy with College Council work’, or ‘we’ve been really busy implementing this policy’. Without that, it seems as if you’re doing nothing.”

“I get the vague idea that they’re working on an academic policy document. Something about standardization? Across courses? but I only got that from Facebook responses” “Yeah, and we’re only hearing about it in April.” “I guess it comes back to a larger interpretation of visibility,” Isha said. “Do you want people to know who you are, or do you want people to know what you’re doing?” Ella added that that was also a hard question within their year too. Another hard debate that was passed to the new board was a suggestion that they be more open about the process of things and the goings on in College Hall, instead of just giving off the end result. Something such as opening a discussion in the middle of the midterm break on drastically changing the academic calendar with only two equally objectionable suggested alternatives is too little information given too late. “Being on the outside, we know how much information we had last year, so it’s hard for us now not having it this year,” Ella sighed. “Well, it’s also hard to be visible,” admitted Isha. “How can you be visible when you only have vague messages to send every once and awhile? We struggled with that a lot, but that still means you should update us, no matter what.” All in all, having been AAOs disallows Isha and Ella from assuming that the current board isn’t doing anything just because they don’t see it. No year in ASC is easy, but it diminishes the faith, interest, and knowledge of students if the board is opaque and unclear, all of which in large doses are what give them their leverage in the first place.

CAR: THE NEW KID ON THE BLOCK

INTERVIEW WITH THIJS RINGELBERG, AND A REPORT ON THE CAR GENERAL ASSEMBLY by Sophie Martens

hen it comes to student representation, we all know ASC and UCSA. But from last month onwards, they have a brand new partner in crime: CAR. And no, I don’t mean the vehicle on 4 wheels. CAR stands for Campus Affairs Representatives and is concerned with any campus-related issues students may encounter. Pick your favourite complaint, from Dining Hall to the Wall. CAR’s got your back.

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If you think something is wrong on campus, don’t leave it there

Thijs Ringelberg is a 6th semester student and former UCSA board member. Together with two other former board members, the current chair and the chair of ASC, he has laid the foundation for CAR. During his board year, the need was identified for an independent body for campus-related matters. What struck him is how many students shake their shoulders indifferently when they run into problems at, for example, their unit. “If you think that something is wrong on campus, don’t leave it there, we can actually change it.”

And that is exactly what CAR is there for. It is their job to represent the student on residential matters. They will hear students’ complaints and be the middleman between them and the management. The focus lies on four topics: housing, facilities, sustainability and catering.

Maurits aims for an improvement of the catering on campus. One of his ideas is setting up a small student-run supermarket, in case you forgot something at Plus or Albert Heijn. In addition, he would like a launch an app in which students can share their self-made food.

One big advantage of CAR is that it can create an overview of bigger problems or underlying issues. A specific example Thijs mentions is the situation in the newer residential buildings. “W, X and Y are using a tremendous amount of energy, and we don’t know why. Nobody can tell us why.”

Another objective of CAR that Jana is fighting for is to provide more transparency. Right now, she mentions, we have no idea where our rent goes. Given the considerable amount of money we pay to live on campus, we may expect a certain standard. CAR aims to make the current housing system more fair. There should be a system of checks and balances, as opposed to the autocracy of the Landlord and Lekstede as we know it now. But first, CAR needs to know about the problems. Only then they can start solving them. This is where students come into play. As Thijs said: “There is a strength in numbers, together we can change something.” The time has come for us, students, to do what we do best: complain. This time, you will be heard.

The first CAR board consists of one member of ASC, one of UCSA and three freshly elected candidates: Mariia Wäre, Jana Elbrecht and Maurits van Beek. Their election statements are highly ambitious and aspire to tackle some widespread problems on campus. Returning issues are the problems in Kromhout (mice, washing machines), but also sustainability and ideas on the position of Dining Hall. Mariia likes to add security to that list. According to her, there are too many break-ins on campus. If possible, she would like to improve campus safety by updating security systems.

So how can you approach CAR? For now, you can contact them via e-mail (campusaffairs. ucu@gmail.com), or just send a Facebook message to one of the board members. In the future, they hope to have office hours just like ASC and UCSA.

The Boomerang | April 2018

ELECTIONS

“IT’S GOOD TO HAVE COMPETITION, IT PUSHES US BOTH” by Charlotte Remarque The Boomerang is taking a tentatively critical stance towards the UCSA elections. Our cover article by Reinoud Pino is part of that. I, too, went into this interview thinking that the elections were a popularity contest: a competition that favors those who have the most friends and hand out the fanciest food. While interviewing these two candidates I was proven wrong. Being a sleazy reporter, I tried to get Zoë and Hugo, candidates for Chair, to rip on each other, or reveal themselves as power-hungry cool kids. I tried to spark controversy, backstabbery and gender riots. I am embarrassed to admit I even tried to get them to pick a favorite candidate for CAO. Of course this didn’t work. As Hugo wryly pointed out, “That’s just not professional.” Both candidates proved themselves extremely well-researched, balanced and motivated. Like true politicians, they knew how to dodge the worst of the questions and answered the rest without a hitch.

What are the chair’s responsibilities? Are you just the face of the UCSA? So, face of the UCSA, yes. The face of the students towards College Hall, the face of UCSA towards outside parties, and the face of the UCSA towards the students. That’s one thing, definitely not all. You are the one ensuring the wellbeing of your board. You are the one that has to know the policy manual and makes sure the board does everything right according to the statutes. You are in charge of longterm goals. But most importantly support. As chair, I would do my fair share of the work, but would make time to help out the other members whenever they have a crisis situation. Of your goals, which is the most realistic? Which is the least? The hardest may be transparency. From one side, the UCSA’s side, it is not very difficult. But transparency between the UCSA, CAR, ASC and College Hall is not something that would happen in a few weeks. What’s important and achievable is the website. There are a lot of small changes to it that still have to be made, like a Burst the Bubble page, or an alumni contact page. And I really want an app, though that is a bit of a long-term thing.

Zoë de Jonge Why are you running for UCSA Chair? First I have to explain why I want to run for the UCSA. I really care about this campus. I’ve been involved since day one and I love this place. I still don’t really know what I want in life, and I am always doubting myself, but I do know that I’m really happy that I’m here. I love organising events and helping out. Chair is the position I think suits me best. I love having an overview, love being organized, I’m a good listener, and I’m there for people when they need me. I think I can be a good support for everyone in my board, while at the same time making sure that things are happening. You just told me you’re always doing things on campus. You are involved in Enactus, BarCo, the Scholarship Fundraising Team, and the Peer Support Group. Will you even have enough time to be part of the UCSA? Definitely. I have been very busy always, so I know how to manage my time. But also: I will quit the things I am in now if I get into the UCSA. BarCo I have already quit. If I would also do BarCo this semester, I would be dead right now. If you join the UCSA, you will be taking over from a board that has faced criticism in the past. In your campaign statement, it says you would like to “continue the goals of the older boards.” What do you think of the current board? I honestly think they have done great. I think they are a healthy board, which is important. One of Menno’s biggest goals is to ensure that everyone in the board is doing okay, wellbeing-wise. I want to do that, too. That’s why they have been working together so well. How I have experienced it, the current been board has not been slacking. I think they have done a good job. What I have heard is that the board could have been more transparent about their goals so that the committees could be more in line with those goals. I think something like that is important, and could be achieved by for example having meetings with all chairs at the beginning of each semester.

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You are the one ensuring the wellbeing of your board. You are the one that has to know the policy manual. You are in charge of longterm goals.

Can you spill the beans on your campaign strategy? How are you getting people to vote for you? It’s most important to show what I can do, how much I want it, and that I’m open to suggestions. I’m going to stand in Dining Hall and let people put sticky notes with their ideas on me, and I’m already meeting with committee members, to see what input the students have. Let’s talk about your opponent. What do you think of his ideas? I don’t know much about his ideas. When he wasn’t sure yet about running, he tried to tell them to me, but I said “let’s not, if we’re gonna talk about this now we’ll both feel like we’re taking each other’s points.” Does the fact that you guys are friends influence the way you’re campaigning? Well, no. I wouldn’t personally attack people in my campaign, even if they weren’t my friends. We talked about it beforehand when he was thinking of going for another position, but I told him “obviously it will be easier for me if you don’t go for chair or don’t run at all, but I would feel bad if I were the reason you didn’t do what you really want.” Besides, it’s good to have competition. It pushes us both. The cover of the last Boomerang featured an article by Menno Beekman on gender divisions in the UCSA board and the committee boards. There are more male than female chairs. Do you think it matters that you are a woman and Hugo is a man? I talked to Menno about this. He said the timing was a bit unfortunate, and people might read into it. He was mostly asking whether we have to care about which gender, he wasn’t saying “vote female chair!” necessarily.

A University College Student Association Magazine

ELECTIONS So imbalance in the board shouldn’t make you vote for a woman. Definitely not. Maybe in general elections, because then you can vote for a woman within the party you support. Now, it’s just me against Hugo, and in that case gender shouldn’t play a role. Maybe if we were representing the same thing, but that’s not the case. Everybody knows each other here on campus. Is that going to help or hurt you? It think it will help me. I don’t have any enemies on campus. People always knew me as a social person, and now they have seen that I

work hard as well.

Any predictions about the GA, which will be tonight when the paper comes out? What can we expect from you? That’s difficult to say, because I will include the information I am going to gather in the coming weeks from speaking with people. I want to show with a super strong speech how much I want it, and how great I will be at it. And what if you lose? I have been working hard. I can definitely see myself crying if I lose.

get a picture of what is going on, you develop your own plans, and I’m confident enough to say I can do the job, but in the end you don’t know how it is. They’re doing a fine job. There’s no way I can critique them, because I haven’t been in their position. Of the things that are in your campaign statement, which do you think are the most realistic and which do you think are the least?

Hugo Schiffers

Why are you running for UCSA Chair? I should tell you first why I want to join the UCSA in general. That’s pretty simple. I’ve been here for almost two years. Before, I studied in Amsterdam, and the difference between UCU and a “normal” uni is so big. I think I’ve really thrived since I came here, and I want to give something back. Julian Goené, the current secretary, is my unit mate and I’ve seen how it impacted him. That guy went from being in bed all day long to being involved and active. I want that. That brings me to why I want to be chair - one of the skills I enjoy most, am good at and want to develop further is HR. That extra dimension of internal board dynamics, making sure that people are okay so they can do their job - it’s the position that has the most to do with people, even more than the CAO’s, I think. So internal relations are the Chair’s main responsibility? And being the face both outside and inside, being approachable, transferring information. Also, to keep a helicopter view. It’s the chair’s task to keep in mind the goals set at the beginning of the year. And to make sure that everything is in line with the statutes. Your competitor has a very impressive resume. Do you have the experience to back up your claims, like she does? Yes. Of course, Zoë’s resume is impressive, but I’ve also done my fair share. I’ve been in a variety of teams, the UCSRN team, and the Scholarship Fund Dinner for which we got the Dean very excited. I was a parent, I’m a student ambassador. I’ve done several boards, some more “Primal” than others. In terms of professionality and working under pressure, I’ve done two internships. More important is the volunteer work I did at the pulmonary department of a hospital, where I was responsible for the mental wellbeing of the patients. The communication skills I learned there will help me as chair. I just won’t be talking about people’s grandchildren, but about cleaning up the calendar and inter-UC relations. I’m sure you have an opinion on the current UCSA board, like a lot of the other students. What do you think of them? That’s a very interview-y question. It’s so hard to imagine what it’s like to be on the board, even with all the research I’ve done. You

I made my points as realistic as possible. What annoyed me about other elections is that some things are promised that I do not think are reasonable to promise. What I’m very committed to is the inter-UC microexchange. It’s so attainable, and it’s something people are enthusiastic about.

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Of course, Zoë’s resume is impressive, but I’ve also done my fair share.

This paper comes out on election day. Are you ready to reveal your campaign strategy? Yes. Being approachable, making sure people can come to me and share their ideas. You can call that a strategy, but I would feel weird standing on that stage just saying stuff I dreamed up by myself. I’m trying to meet with all the committees. There was one committee that was sceptical and said “this is just a campaign strategy,” but I’m just trying to get a grasp on what is going on out there. I’ve heard that you’re sending out Facebook friend requests, too. That’s true. You’re saying this in a bit of a cheeky way. But I’m running to represent everyone on campus, not just the people I was already friends with. Any predictions for the GA tonight? It’s about feeling the room. I hope it will be content-based. I spent a lot of time on content. My election statement is just one page of almost a book of stuff I’ve written. Sure, I’ll ask you a content-based question. Your campaign is focused on “bottom-up” action, instead of things being imposed on the committees from above. But by encouraging collaborative events, aren’t you pushing the committees to do what is best for the UCSA instead of doing what they want? No, it shouldn’t be the UCSA pushing for things. MathsCo has a puzzle night - are we really going to force them to collab on that? No. But everyone I’ve spoken to about the number of events thinks it’s a problem. People don’t find out about them on time, and they are often under-attended. So we should look at this problem, but in a very careful way. No cutting events top-down. What happens if you lose on the 19th? On the 24th I will have the beard-growing competition, then on the 25th and 26th is the musical, which I’m acting in. So life goes on.

The Boomerang | April 2018

QUAD QUERIES WHAT DO YOU THINK OF LAISSEZ-FAIRE CAPITALISM?

ith was Adam Sm alright - Alidad

It’s -Ma a curse nue la

- Lore

nzo

e es th o r o n it ig posed t k n i h es t It leng the 21s l a h c n i l rea n kind a y! hum centur

it my k uc ! s can dick J -T

- Ern

It’s my jam

e it

I lov

- Abbie

- Sie

it’s unproductive THE BOOMERANG BOARD

- Floris

I’m by no sociali means a st capita but I think lism h a way to s gone o far.

e is th for y c a e ocr cept dem licy ex I feel th o , ism st p nes wor other o capital he out all t me ab sa ye - Ke

it’s only shit bu thin t it’s in o t ur s g that w he ocie o mom ty at t rks he ent - Jo han na

I’m more in favor of laissez unfair capitalism. In laissez unfair capitalism you choose the top percent of people and give them a bunch of money and then let them exploit everyone.

With support from

- Alexander

’s nk it st i h t I in e aga ts. m i r h ac n rig a m hu riin - Ing

t the eza h w laiss m? s i s k fuc apitali c faire pijn - Pe