October 2017

The

Boomerang October 2017

INCREASE THE SIZE OF THE SCHOLARSHIP FUND

by Lorenzo Margiotta

T

he UCSA recently announced that it has saved 50,000 euros of its budget after underspending. The UCSA has also announced that it will spend this money on UCSA investments. Can you think of an investment of higher value?

If you don’t know much about scholarship students, you are far from alone.

Scholarship students are a misunderstood minority at UCU. This article does not aim to throw a collective pity-party for scholarship holders. Rather, it is an attempt to raise awareness about their lives and experiences on campus, as well as the key role that the Scholarship Fund plays for our community and institution. Information about the Scholarship Fund is lacking, as confirmed by all scholars I talked to. “There is no understanding of the program at all. Even I didn’t understand it fully”, said Lauren*, a scholarship student who grew up surrounded by water. Alex* from Eastern Europe, supports this. He doesn’t think that non-scholarship students know anything “more intricate, more detailed” about the fund, except that it exists and that it provides financial support to students.

The fund What does the scholarship fund do? Nothing speaks better than numbers — In 2016, the UCU Scholarship Fund had

a budget of 499,500 euros, dedicated to subsidising the costs of a UCU education for students who would not otherwise have the means. Although the average scholarship is worth about 8,000 euros a year, they can range from 3,000 to 12,500 euros. Aside from one exception, only partial scholarships are granted. The scholarship fund does not fully sponsor the fees of its beneficiaries, instead reduces them to an amount considered manageable for the student. Per latest figures, the total number of scholarship students on campus was 62 — 29 EEA and 33 Non-EEA. Nearly one in every ten students you meet on this campus are scholarship students.

It has become clear to me what a big difference the Scholarship Fund made in these students’ lives. Joan*, an American scholarship student, said that she was ecstatic when her scholarship was approved: “I was amazingly happy because I didn’t think I would be able to go here, and then I got the scholarship and I talked to my parents, I talked to my friends and I was like holy shit I can actually go to college, I am super excited!”.

Others, among them Gwen*, an African scholarship student, voiced the relief that they felt for their families. Not only does a scholarship lower the barriers to a UCU education, but it also relieves the pressure put on their families. Before receiving the

Facts and figures »

499,500 euros spent on the UCU scholarship fund

»

Scholarships range from 3,000 to 12,500 euros a year

»

The average scholarship is worth 8000 euros a year

»

Total number of scholarship students is 62 — 29 EEA, and 33 non-EEA

»

1 in 10 students is on a scholarship

scholarship, Gwen was very concerned that her sister would not be able to go to the same boarding school that she had attended herself — the financial burden was too high.

“These scholarships are really fundamental to us being here” she concludes.

No shame The story doesn’t end with the application procedure. On this campus, the words “rich” and “privileged” are frequently thrown around. The population of UCU is not representative of the rest of the Netherlands when it comes to income and social class. When you come into this privileged environment and are handed an invoice branded with the word “scholarship”, how do these two realities come together? It is at this point that opinions and experiences branch out into different directhis story continues on the next page

Illustration © Lotte Schuengel

in this edition…

• Voltaire Midterm Culture

3

• Bar Brawl – let’s talk Initiation

4

• Boomerang’s Halloween Special

6

• Students Left in the Dark

5

• Feminist Porn

8

• Netflixification of the Nation

10

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The Boomerang | October 2017

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tions.

Alex had a neutral outlook on his life as a scholarship student versus the life of others.

Firstly, he said that he had “no shame” in telling people that he was a scholarship student, and that he saw no reason to feel that way. He also did not feel a particular difference between his way of life and the one of other UCU students; “no, I don’t think I live my life differently, definitely, because I do what every other student does. There is no difference in way of life, what I buy or what I do not buy.” Gwen and Lauren also described the lack of any feeling of shame, although they both believed that they felt they were more aware of money than other students, and that they regulated themselves more. “I am still very cognizant of the fact that my life back home and here is not the same. So, I do feel like sometimes I am checking myself and regulating myself a bit more than other people”, said Gwen.

Lauren felt the same way; “I don’t have as much disposable income as many of these students have so sometimes what I would see people complain about or waste would make me very angry. I do think sometimes that it would limit me socially to an extent, but I don’t let that bother me.”

A disconnect on campus Joan felt a much more striking difference between her and her peers during her time living on campus, to the point where it was mentally oppressive. “I was talking to somebody, and it wasn’t until I said that I was on scholarship that they also admitted that they were on scholarship, and I feel like it’s sort of almost something that people feel ashamed about. I can totally understand because I have also felt quite a lot of shame at UCU about my monetary situation.” During our conversation, Joan continued on to explain how much she felt disconnected from the people on campus, due to a total gap in their abilities to mutually understand each other. “Last year I lived on campus and it was really awful.

I was super

depressed because I was surrounded by people who were saying they didn’t have money, and I could tell from either talking to them, seeing what they purchased, seeing the things that their parents were saying to them, the fact that their parents were able to actually come visit them, [their reality was still] so different.” At the moment, Joan is living in an illegal squat in Utrecht, which technically classifies her as homeless.

“I don’t think people realize that they are actually going to school with anyone that is homeless”. UCU is not at all as homogeneous as we might think. This is something that Lauren brought up when affirming her stance that there should be more awareness about the scholarship fund. If more people knew that “there are some people here that aren’t as wealthy or whose parents don’t have as much ability to send them to school”, Lauren believes that this may help “in the way certain things are dealt with.”. Perhaps with more education, UCU can become a more friendly and understanding environment for situations such as Joan’s.

Gwen included an interesting twist when asked whether she felt different from non-scholarship students; “I don’t feel stigmatized because I am on a scholarship, but I do feel that there is a bit of a weird thing going on in [the fact] that all the people that I know that are on scholarship, a lot of us come from Africa.” Because of this, Gwen believes that African students at UCU can sometimes be looked at as “poor African kids having this chance to go to school in Europe”, an idea that she clearly finds distasteful. Gwen was onto something. The above stereotype about African students creates a link to what Alex told me about students in UCU from his own country. “This year there are three people in UCU from [my country], all of which I think are scholarship receivers.” Since Alex comes from a country in Eastern Europe that is not a member of the European Economic Area, and the fees for these students are so much higher, Alex says that this “community” of his co-nationals on campus “liter-

ally depends on this Scholarship Fund.”

With the above examples, I would argue that not only does the Scholarship Fund change the lives of students, but it is also a big part of what makes UCU attractive. UCU is a targeted and highly-regarded school, but not the indisputable winner for most students in their search for a good higher education. If UCU does not offer a scholarship to a non-EEA student, there is always another school willing to provide that student with a better offer. It can be assumed that a large part of the non-EEA population on campus would not have come to UCU if not for the scholarship.

Limited funds At the start of this academic year, quite a few people like the four interviewees in this article were elated to learn that their request for financial aid was successful. However, while it is College Hall’s policy to have as many students benefiting from the Scholarship Fund as possible, many other people’s scholarship requests are denied, as funds are not infinite. These are brilliant students who would likely bring more diversity to UCU. They might even alter the unfortunate dynamic described by Lauren, in which UCU is “more a European university than it is [an] international [one].” Of course, if UCU is to stop turning away so many students it would have to increase the size of the Scholarship Fund. As a result of this, “the diversity of the campus could be increased, the popularity of UCU could be increased, its respect, and its influence,” as Alex argues.

A larger UCU Scholarship Fund could benefit the whole community of UCU. Why not invest more in the fund? Whether it is to attract new students and give them the chance of joining this university, or to help the scholarship students who are already here. All the UCSA’s budget decisions are determined in public assemblies. it is up to you, UCSA member, to decide. * Names changed to protect the privacy of students.

Illustration © Lotte Schuengel

A University College Student Association Magazine

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Hoi jongens en meisjes, This Halloween edition of the Boomerang is all about scary things. If you can’t stay awake long enough to cram for that exam, or need to finish that essay that was technically due at midnight but you’re absolutely sure the teacher won’t check Workspaces until 8am, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Flip to the centre page and read stories that will rob you of your sleep for the next three weeks.

Then, while you might or might not be soundly sleeping in your bed, be reminded that a certain number of Primus initiates is having a mind-bogglingly awful time. Is that really worth it? I wouldn’t know, but two of our writers do, and have some strong contrasting opinions about this, so why don’t you go give our new debate format a read. We’ve decided to call it Bar Brawl, hoping it will get low and dirty as fast as possible. Have some highly controversial opinions? Be sure to let us know and we’ll publish you there.

What else could rob you of your sleep? That your room lamp might be out to violently murder you, social ostracism due to a faint cough in Voltaire, Poland in general, post-apocalyptic wastelands, graduation, cultural ignorance, and, for good measure, racism.

Spooky.

The main story however, is about scholarship students. How many of you really know what it means to receive a scholarship and go to university? Most of us are far removed from this reality. The majority having been born into wealthy families, can we even start to imagine what receiving the gift of education means to some people? I sincerely hope our cover story helps in understanding this, by giving a voice to the 10% of students who rely on scholarships to study at UCU.

Sleep tight and have a scary Halloween,

Clemens Schally

VOLTAIRE HAS YOU TRAPPED by Laura Hoogenraad

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t’s 11 p.m. on a Monday night in midterms. Campus is deserted.

If you wouldn’t know better, you’d think people were sleeping tight. But no, not a UCU student – these rare species stay out until deep into the night in what’s probably the only UU study area that’s open 24/7: Voltaire.

The only time when there’s some movement in this normally static environment is during –the event of the evening- 9 p.m. study snacks. People fight for as many apples, chips, crackers, chocolate and coke as they can get, after which they spread it out on their desk as a personal victory. It’s the food ration to survive the night.

Your first sight of Voltaire is a group of procrastinating smokers outside. Once you push the magic button that automatically opens the door, you’ll find a diverse selection of pyjama bottoms, tangled earphones, empty teapots and printed socks with one wiggling toe popping out from a hole. During midterms, all style has left our normally classy campus; instead, it’s greasy hair, under eye bags and flipflops all the way.

People keep claiming that none of the humanities or science majors are ever in Voltaire. Does this mean the Voltaire population is made up of enthusiastic first years who want to study with their friends and desperate social science majors who are trying to hit those deadlines?

When you’ve managed to dodge all the stares, find a spot and kick off your shoes – you’re integrated into this peculiar culture. A study night in Voltaire almost feels like a group effort; thou shalt help thy fellow student pull those late nighters. This includes communal complaining about how many words you still need to write, participating in the “I don’t understand anything” conversation, and answering your neighbour’s deep sigh with an understanding nod.

Charlotte argues that she finds this ‘I had three hours of sleep’ or ‘I’ve not had solid food in days’ act extremely childish.

“Take care of yourself, you’re an adult.”

Illustration © Idalina Lehtonen

“If you’re ever truly a humanities student you never feel like it’s done,” Anahi, a third-year humanities major, says “and being in Voltaire becomes crap because you’re there forever - you can never leave. Because in Voltaire you must be done to leave, and when can you truly be done with post-colonialism?”

It seems as if Voltaire has invisible barriers that captivate us until 3 a.m., while we’re running on chocolate and coke, and when those 2000 words finally appear on the screen, we’ll drag ourselves to our bed. Healthy?

Maybe not so much.

Productive?

Perhaps, sometimes. Group effort? Always.

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The Boomerang | October 2017

BUBBLE In Bar Brawl, two students tackle a controversial issue each month. Want to fight? Email us at boomerang@ucsa.nl or join us at the next writers meeting.

WHY INITIATION WORKS by Lara Kindt

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on’t get me wrong: it took me a long time to see the point of initiation. I still believe that there is a line that is too blurry sometimes, and crossed too often. Some Dutch societies across The Netherlands take it incredibly far, to a point that the performed tasks definitely do not serve any purpose anymore.

There are some extremely disturbing stories about people not surviving the process of initiation. These cases were mostly due to violence as well as alcohol abuse and are thankfully rare, yet they still occur.

There are enough reasons to be principally against any sort of initiation.

However, this is not the case I will plead. I personally believe that if performed within boundaries and with a clear vision, there is enough ground to have a new year of a society go through an initiation.

In essence, initiation is based on certain principles that resemble ones used to build nationalism; people are somewhat estranged from their individuality, included in a newly fabricated group and a common enemy is created: the initiators. An artificial unity is constructed with extreme efficiency, reinforcing concepts such as blind solidarity and common identity.

After this challenging period the individuals have become a group, stripped from shame and willing to do anything for one another. It is not impossible to accomplish the same results through other means, but those are a lot more time consuming and equally less effective. I do believe that there should be clear rules. Initiators have to keep in mind that everything they do needs to have a purpose, leading to the intended result. When this is followed, initiation can be an extremely useful tool and is not simply the sadist torture a lot of people think it is. When initiation is successful, the bond that is formed with the new year is unlike any other. The members make an unspoken pledge to protect, confide and stick together no matter what.

Whenever a member is having a hard time the initiates lift up each other’s spirit and get through it together.

Weaknesses are vulnerably exposed which leads to the development of their strengths to compensate for them.

This produces a well-rounded group with members who know everything about each other and are able to help, cherish and grow together as a whole. Those who demonize initiation have allowed sensationalist news stories to cloud their judgement. This generalization is short-sighted and misses the significance as well as the intention behind the process of initiation.

INITIATION IS QUESTIONABLE AT BEST by Lotte Schuengel

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s a means of selection, initiation is inherently questionable. Having to survive 120 days of Sodom before you are allowed to join some exclusive group, is quite a backwards and ridiculous concept if you analyze it critically. The condition on which you are welcomed into a group as a person is a series of inevitably negative experiences that involve physical exhaustion, emotional abuse, intoxication beyond a set limit and humiliation.

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Losing empathy and respect is a fast, invisible process.

The secrecy from sororities and fraternities about the activities going on during initiation makes it difficult to criticize. The lack of transparency is in itself a questionable aspect. Participants are obliged to remain silent. Whatever is made public, is vague. Specific details are left up to our imagination. This only raises suspicion, for apparently the stuff that’s going on is so dark, that no one outside the group is allowed to know. If anything truly illegal and dangerous happens, chances are that no one finds out, with no exception to police, hospital and parents.

One striking tradition in UCU’s initiation is the role of the alumni. They execute the worst parts of the initiation in order to preserve the ‘bond’ between the new fraternity/sorority members and the older ones. There are no consequences tied to the actions of these alumni because they do not have to face their hostages ever again, so they can do whatever they want. It takes a quick callback to the Stanford Prison Experiment to understand that the combination of power and carte blanche is a toxic powder that dissolves any morale within a group. Losing empathy and respect is a fast, invisible process.

Second and third years should at least take it on themselves to torture their new members.

Perhaps initiation will then not be as extreme as it is now, but at least there will be consequences to actions undertaken, and they will show mercy when needed.

Illustration © Iris ten Have

A University College Student Association Magazine

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STUDENTS LEFT IN THE DARK by Aditya Agarwal & Charlotte Remarque

C

ampus has spent an exorbitant amount of money refurbishing dining hall. A third of the area has been transformed into the stylish–yet deserted chain café Jazzmans. What’s left is now outfitted with sleek booths and a new colour palette. A seemingly unremarkable feature of the new decor is the collection of small red and gray ceiling lamps. Upon further inspection, these lamps are a little more interesting. Made by proudly Scandinavian design company Muuto, the lamps sell for a whopping €119. This price we had to find via a retailer. Muuto’s website, like their products, is so minimalistic it neglects to mention prices at all.

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Cheap lamps are tumbling from the ceiling

The extravagance of the Dining Hall lamps becomes glaring in light of a recent discovery. The lamps in student quarters W, X and Y, purchased by Lekstede for a modest €4.26, have been declared unsafe in a worldwide recall by

IKEA. This news was announced last year with the alarming headline “IKEA Recalls Ceiling Lamps Due to Laceration Hazard”. The story was covered by The Daily Mail, no less.

Not only are the cheap lamps tumbling from the ceiling, they are “slashing” their unsuspecting owners on their way down.

How serious is this? Your modest lightbringer is certainly not the kid-crushing Malm chest-of-drawers, but it seems that our favourite sleek Scandinavians have chosen economy over safety once again. 224 incidents of lamps dropping from the sky were reported, of which about a dozen resulted in serious injuries, but only in the US. Relevant in the Netherlands? Surprisingly, yes. We did a little digging to find the lamps installed on campus bear the American article numbers, and not the Dutch ones. The incidents have been serious enough that you could walk into your favourite IKEA store in de buurt and have it replaced without a receipt, no questions asked. We cannot blame IKEA for complete negligence - they have “apologized for the inconvenience”.

Illustration © Inter IKEA Systems B.V. & Charlotte Remarque

CONFESSIONS LAID BARE by Kyle Gardiner

S

omething about anonymity is tantalizing. Four times as many people have liked UCU Confessions as there are members of UCU Community, and the page has around twice as many followers as are a part of UCU students.

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Something is odd when power imbalances creep into a platform used to subvert them.

UCU Confessions has, overall, been a refreshing addition to campus life. Many have benefited from its creation, whether it be through the cathartic release of bottled-up feelings, the realization that you are not alone in holding a certain opinion, or the initiation of frank discussions in the public sphere of campus about issues that are otherwise difficult to bring up. Among the thousands of submissions, one can find debates on diversity, wealth disparity, ideological homogeneity, and campus power imbalances.

But something is odd when power imbalances creep into a platform which we use to subvert them. On October 17th, 2017, a confession was posted: #fallbreak3k739: “Dear guy in Y that keeps getting naked in front of his window without closing the curtains: We support your confidence, but please stop.

Love, people in X.

Naturally, the content is uncomfortable if you are a guy that lives in Y. The question is whether it is sufficiently uncomfortable that this should not have been posted, and on what grounds.

Back on September 28th, 2016, the page made a general announcement regarding

confessions on the topic of being able to see people changing in their rooms.

past ones (which included confessors explicitly asking for more nudity from women in specific rooms).

Dear people of campus (but especially girls), lately we have received several confessions related to being able to see girls change or walk around naked in their rooms. Though potentially harmless, these confessions are often rather specific / slightly creepy and we won’t post them for risk of sexual intimidation. With this post we’d like to just remind you to maybe close your curtains if you don’t want people to see you, without posting the specific confessions.

UCU Confessions is not an elected body, they do not receive a UCSA budget, and they are not a regulated student institution. It is a privately-run page on a privately-run website. No one has any rights or entitlements to either free speech or privacy, unless a post is libellous or otherwise legally infringing. One can only ask on a moral basis that the moderators adhere to a consistent censorship policy – but even the specifics of which they need only share when they feel like it.

Y has eleven windows facing X that look into bedrooms. Using the gender ratio published in the last edition of the Boomerang, a rough estimate would predict that only around three of them would look into rooms with male students.

The exact content of the confessions referenced in the 2016 announcement and any others that have been deemed inappropriate aren’t publicly available for comparison, making it difficult for people to know whether three people out of over seven hundred students is sufficiently “rather specific”, or the normative stance that the moderators take in determining what is “slightly creepy” or “risks sexual intimidation”.

Full disclosure: the author of this article is a male student living in Y with a window facing X, who sometimes sees nothing wrong with enjoying a little natural light, and therefore could possibly be the person addressed in the October post. However, he has no intentions of closing his curtains any time soon.

When reached for comment, a moderator for the page justified posting the October confession.

It was shared publicly because indeed the tone of this confessions was far different than the wave we had experienced when we made the general announcement. We still refuse to share creepy posts like we promised, yet we found this one to be a little different: the confessors ‘people of X’ seem to be warning the particular person that when changing in front of his window he is visible from the windows of X. We considered it a fair statement, that did not resemble the tone of the

Illustration © Charlotte Remarque

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The Boomerang | October 2017

A University College Student Association Magazine

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BUBBLE, BUT SCARY

WALL 1 hauntee Patrick Gifford: “So how did it start?”

WALL

MOSt HAUNTED:

G

We would recommend you avoid what is assumed to be the former military hospital this Halloween.

Obviously, the walls have soaked up all those bad memories and ghosts are still wandering the hallways.

X

Y

W

G14 hauntee Vani Pillay: I used to live in G14 and me and my roommate were convinced we had a ghost because the door would randomly open and close.

Once, we took a picture with a Polaroid camera in our room and on the picture it showed a white “spirit” over my roommate’s face...

G

The first signs were subtle at first, something one could merely chalk down to a few too many spliffs before bed.

A jolting noise, a ghastly shadow, but nothing particularly ominous. We didn’t think much of it at first until all these happenings coalesced over a late night chat. Pete, in Room B, had felt the actual presence of some sort of being. A girl no less, who appeared as an apparition wondering around his room and left promptly through his door while acknowledging his realization of her existence.

1

VOLTAIRE

Following this we realised Cass had awoken at one point that very same night and was confronted by the shadow of a girl kneeling on his bed in Room C. Poised right beside, she was entirely vacant; devoid of emotion yet still emanating a chalky glow. Cass, unperturbed by the whole situation, disregarded the ghoul and slipped into a slumber soon after.

“And for you…”

My experience didn’t hold the same physicality as the other two but existed sonically in a loop of moans and groans which came from right outside my door. Now, this would usually be a fairly obvious occurrence. But the proximity and the guttural sound ruled these out as anything normal. When I opened my door, they stopped instantly, but still left a haunting echo reverberating around my walls.

K NEWTON off-limits

Locke

7

KH

“That’s it?”

No. A few weeks later Cass and Pete were alone in the unit, over Christmas break. At around 11 o’clock one bleak night they were met with an aggressive ringing of the doorbell and came out to meet two ambulance men and two other unknown individuals. They were looking for a ‘Mrs. Kruis who lived at Room A, Elmarelaan 1’.

Apparently, she had just tried to kill herself and rang for help. Despite the ambulance men’s initial insistence, the lads managed to assure them that no Mrs Kruis lived in Wall 1 nor had she lived there in recent memory.

A few weeks later, while setting up for a party we heard the lock of Room A open and close itself. Something we could never explain as the room was unoccupied, but something we still wonder about to this day...

WALL 1 hauntee Sophia Endert:

Experienced haunter Maarten Diederix The biking Dutchman is the most sighted spirit on campus. Wispy-haired, and always with an evil yet clever quip ready at hand, he spares no one.

Somehow he manages to be in multiple places at once, like an older male Hermione Granger, which made it hard for the Boomerang team to accurately place him on the map. Nevertheless, we marked the places you should definitely avoid littering, lest he run you down with his trusty stadsfiets, or let loose his ghostly dog.

G14 hauntee Nikki Giron: It was 2 a.m. on a random night in G14. I needed to pee. After I peed, I made my way back to my room. My room is right next to the fire exit doors, which had glass windows so I can see my reflection. As I walked back I saw, in my reflection, a woman in a white nightgown walking behind me. I turned around. No one was there. The next day I told my unitmates, “Lol so I thought I saw a ghost last night”, to which my unitmate replied “… you see the woman in white too?”

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Voltaire hauntee Flora Gilmartin: G12 hauntee Charlotte Remarque:

On the morning after a party night, two visibly shaken girls knocked on G12’s door. They told us they had heard what sounded like an assault. A girl screamed “get out! Get out!” and repeatedly slammed a door. They had asked around and were certain it could not have come from any other unit than G12. Immediately we turned on each other. Who had been hurt, or had hurt someone? Who was hiding the truth? Up to this day, the mystery of the screaming girl in G12 has not been solved. We barely trust each other anymore.

It was quite late during finals last year and I was in Voltaire around 3 a.m. with Katharina. It was empty apart from us. But the table on the other side of the room kept making a noise, as if someone or something was bumping it. It kept ticking and then when we got up to look it would stop. And as soon as we sat down again, it would start being bumped by something again. The lights kept flickering, which was really creepy.

You know when a table moves and wobbles because there’s something under one of the legs? It was like that noise. As if someone kept pushing it. Eventually, the trash can started making the same “ticking” noise...

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Wall 5 hauntee Meike Eijsberg:

Wednesday, 5th of October, 23:57.

A sleepy soul was laying in bed in Wall 5, and heard what seemed like a horror movie being played in the kitchen. I asked in the Whatsapp unit chat: “Is someone playing a movie on full volume in the kitchen? I am hearing what sounds like screaming children’s voices”. No-one replied. Three minutes later, I asked again: “Guys, please turn down the volume, I’m trying to sleep here”. No-one replied. It wasn’t until the next day, that I woke up with 13 messages from my unitmates, none of whom were watching a movie, but all of whom had heard the screams...

It was the night that everyone had moved out and that access keys stopped working after midnight. I lay there… Kit lay there… in the room that had been locked all year round.

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“It’s so quiet” I murmured.

“Yes… it is” said Kit. “I can’t believe we’re probably the only people on campus right now…”

“Yeah, I hope Diederix doesn’t find us.”

“Yeah… You know, the boys saw a little girl coming out of this room once. I think it was a ghost.” I whispered.

“What the fuck Sophia.”

I then decided it was time to stop smoking weed.

The Boomerang | October 2017

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WORLD

IN CHINA’S SCHOOLS, YOUR CV IS MEANINGLESS

by Nils de Bruijn

W

hen my brother got his first job at 17, he was making roughly 25 euros an hour. He had no experience, no qualifications, no working visa, and didn’t even meet the legal working age (18 years). He worked as an English teacher in Beijing, and getting the job could not have been easier. One day, he simply received a message from a lady he met at a cooking class about half a year earlier. She asked him if he was able to teach English at a school she just setup, knowing he was underage and had no experience or qualification. By the end of next week, he already had his own class as well as several

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China. As a result, schools and tutoring centres can only employ non-English teachers if they want to fill in the gaps.

When looking for unqualified candidates with little or no experience, the only criteria is to please the parents who are paying for their kids’ English classes. This means looking for people who appear to come from Englishspeaking countries or, in other words, are white. In China, there exists the widespread notion of white people being native English speakers which schools and tutoring centres apply towards their employment prac-

thick accents, and at best a mediocre understanding of English

other roles at the school. This kind of employment has already become standard procedure for many schools and tutoring centres in China.

Qualifications and experience only add to an English teacher’s CV but in many places, they are not required. This is because there aren’t enough qualified English teachers to meet the demand in

tices, often leading to disastrous results. Thousands of Russians, Ukrainians, and Polish people end up

teaching English. Most have thick accents and at best a mediocre understanding of the English language. Certain schools have tried to avoid hiring unqualified teachers by only employing native English speakers from the US or Britain; but even then, the teachers lack the necessary skills to be teachers, and their students rarely improve their English.

English teaching in China has now become synonymous with low-skilled labour for expats.

What’s even more unbelievable is that it is also a highly-paid job. Most English teachers in China make more than the average Chinese person. My brother received a pay rise after just a month of semi-decent work, and now gets paid roughly 40 euros an hour doing the exact same things he did in his first month. While he and all the other English teachers understand they are taking advantage of this system, it is difficult not to indulge yourself into the world of English teaching in China.

Efforts have been made by the Chinese government to prevent unqualified foreigners from working in China. But with schools and tutoring centres being so desperate, the employment of non-English teachers continues.

Illustration © Idalina Lehtonen

FEMINIST PORN: WE ALL NEED TO GET OFF SOMETIMES by Anahi Saravia Herrera

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t’s unsurprising that porn, as neutral a term as we’ve made it, gives us anything but a natural gaze. Typically, the porn that is mass consumed is strictly given from a male perspective and with the objective of inciting male pleasure. That can range from characteristics as simple as camera angles to other full-fledged visual representations of the patriarchal power dynamics, where the woman is nothing but the object to be consumed by the male.

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The drive of the industry is to make porn sexy again

In the worst of times and what is undeniably the most of the times, the sex is often aggressive and violent and propagates the idea that it is always the man “giving it” to their “bitch” (put in the language used most prominently in adult films). Not only is this representation of sex unrealistic, it is also incredibly unsexy to watch, for anyone who isn’t the aggressor.

That point brings us to the first part of a problem that is multifaceted.

The porn industry is targeting an almost exclusively male audience.

This is not because women or queer individuals are unable to get off, but because our sexuality has never seemed as important. Often we were simply portrayed as a convenient hole to penetrate. It is this that the feminist porn movement is trying to address by making content that is representative and appeals to more than just one

Illustration © Lotte Schuengel

demographic. Rather than it being ‘porn for women’ (which is one of the things that it can be), it’s porn for all bodies, races and sexual orientations and even fetishes, all groups which are often marginalized in the porn industry. The drive of this new industry is to make porn sexy again, not for one but for all.

In this process, they want to portray sex that can be crazy, rough and even weird, but also leave space for the kind of sex that is gentle (continues on next page)

A University College Student Association Magazine

WORLD and loving- the kind of sex that most people seek and take part of in their life outside the computer. The focus is much less on the penetration but on the sensuality and the pillow talk that often characterize the most personal, sexy and consensual sexual experiences. No longer do we need to wait for the ‘cum shot’ because sex stops being goal oriented, and whether it be lesbian, gay or heterosexual we focus on a much more fair depiction of the often emotional dynamic between partners.

The second and equally important part

of the feminist porn industry is the treatment of adult film workers, who are usually exploited, abused and underpaid. In an ideal feminist scenario, their needs and working rights are met by producers and filmmakers, making it an entirely moral process, from production to consumption.

This is, in short, why we should all be watching feminist porn, it’s for everyone and doesn’t perpetuate harmful power dynamics (and we’re only just scratching the surface).

This is important because whether we like it or not, the porn industry is actively shaping

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the way many people construct their views and experiences of sex. Sex can be many things but it should never be abusive or demeaning. In the best of times, it should be meaningful and at the very least pleasurable for all parties involved. So whether you like it rough or all it takes is a kiss on the neck, it’s time for us to shift our focus on mutual pleasure, let’s make porn sexy again.

Interested? Erika Lust films might be a good place to start. The first subscription comes with one film for free.

BEING BROWN IN AN ALL-WHITE COUNTRY by Vedika Luthra

I

grew up in a country where 98.6% of the population is white. I belong to that 1.4% demographic classified as ‘other.’ Of course, this number was a lot worse when I moved to Poland in 2004; even though it’s said that things are improving in the country.

But perhaps it is because things are improving that the leader of Poland’s extreme right-wing conservative Law and Justice Party (that currently holds the most seats in the Polish parliament) felt the need to proclaim that ‘Muslims carry infectious diseases’- a reason for why Poland decidedly did not take in migrants as part of their EU obligations in regards to the refugee crisis. Apparently, change isn’t a good thing, not when your all-white national race is ‘threatened.’

Of course, Poland wasn’t always this homogenous. It was once home to one of the largest Jewish populations in Europe. But that number was completely decimated after the Second World War. Then Poland was part of the Communist bloc till 1989. It’s no shock that Warsaw, the city’s capital, is nowhere near London or Paris in terms of diversity - although it is making progress.

Frankly, it’s easy to be critical. I don’t mean to bash Poland; it is my home. Polish people are some of the kindest people I know and I always consider myself as someone incredibly fortunate to have grown up in a city as cool as Warsaw. I got to attend an international school with pretty awesome teachers and classmates. I never experienced particularly jarring abuse, either verbal or physical. However, I have to say that being brown in an all-white country did have an impact on me.

Science Fair video portraying two boys passionately speaking about their invention. That was all fine, except the reason they shared the video was not because the science project depicted was cool, it was to mock the two boys because they were Indian and had thick accents.

Speaking of accents- I remember my first day of elementary school when I put on a fake one. I don’t even know why really, except that I knew I sounded different from the others and I didn’t want to.

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I was stopped and asked to show my passport

I remember seeing the words, ‘kill all Muslims’ scrawled across the window of a bus stop. I’m not even Muslim, but somehow I felt unwelcome in a place I had grown to view as home.

Once while exiting a flight in Warsaw, I was stopped and asked to show my passport because I was literally the only brown-skinned person in sight. They could have chosen anyone. But they chose me. And that was fine too, except it wasn’t the first time that it had happened.

Honestly, none my experiences are drastically upsetting. I agree that it can be fun to mimic accents, and I know that people have it much worse than I do. But at that age, you really only just want to fit in. And when people blatantly point out the characteristics that distinguish you from everyone else, it might have the opposite effect of humorous.

I remember times when I’d try to distance myself from my cultural heritage – I felt ashamed to wear traditional clothing on UN Day, even though we were asked to.

Although I attended an international school, realistically speaking it wasn’t quite as diverse as you would imagine: Most people either came from the US, Poland or other parts of Europe. Although I enjoyed my experience at school, there was a gnawing feeling that I just couldn’t seem to shake off. I had friends and I went out, but I never felt like I truly fit in, at least not until the last couple years of high school. I realize that this is a common feeling amongst many people our age. But in my case, I think it was- at least partly- attributed to my skin colour.

Innocuous comments not necessarily directed towards myself had a more profound effect than they were probably intended to have. When I was in Middle School some of the boys in my class shared a Google

From a very young age, I was obsessed with my academic and extracurricular performance, to an occasionally unhealthy level. I just wanted to stand out for (what I thought) were the right reasons.

It’s difficult to explain this feeling of inferiority unless you’ve experienced it. It may be grounded in imagination that is exemplified by harmless comments or jokes. It may be grounded in standing out when you don’t want to. It may be grounded in a more profound experience. Whatever the origin, it’s there and it’s not easy to shake off.

Illustration © Amu Endo

The world is a palette of differences – a colourful one. I am only now learning to appreciate the characteristics that make me unique. Because a world without colour is a pretty dull one.

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The Boomerang | October 2017

ARTS&CULTURE

NETFLIXIFICATION OF THE NATION by Florine Kist

W

hy does no one go to theatre performances anymore? For someone who truly loves theatre, I always feel embarrassed to admit that I do not actually go very regularly. And if I don’t even go that often, how rarely do people who “kind of like it” go?

It’s hard to estimate the average cost of a play, but for all we know it can’t be as cheap as we students like it to be. For the sake of the argument, let’s say the average price is 25 euros. Of course, students

don’t fall in the richest segment of the population and at times this can seem like a lot of money to spend on a night out. Still, I am convinced that the reason for us not to go to the theatre is more likely to be a matter of different priorities than lack of money. Why does it hurt to spend 7 euros on a ticket for the UCU musical, when we can easily and repeatedly spend 10 euros on beer in the bar? And no, it’s not because we’re drunk. The same thing happens without alcohol involved, expressed in our decision to spend up to 30 euros a month on Netflix subscriptions, tickets for a party, going out for dinner or going to the movies, rather than spending that money on going to the theatre.

Apparently, we don’t think a play is worth that much money.

Yet, I feel as if many of us underestimate the value of a good play.

You don’t just get an exceptionally fancy night out, including free wardrobe service, but you also get a live performance that is never two nights the same, very dependent on the audience and always at risk of going wrong. And it’s exactly this tension, the probability of failure and the uniqueness of every performance, that makes plays so interesting to watch. But it seems as if we nowadays shy away from this more interactive form of entertainment. We prefer the convenience of watching something that has already been recorded and can be paused at any time. Even more so, we seem to dislike the type of entertainment that forces us to engage more actively with the performance, therefore being rather cognitively effortful, instead of something that allows us to take a break from thinking and just zone-out. Perhaps theatre just doesn’t suit our twenty-first-century idea of relaxation.

We have to be aware of the fact that we’ve become spoiled with the convenience and multitude that online entertainment services, like Netflix, have to offer. These services are simple: every month, the money automatically gets transferred without us even being aware of spending it. The movies and series are conveniently sorted according to categories, which makes finding the perfect movie very easy. And lastly, every time we’re connected to wifi, we constantly have access to all of it. Finding the right play is not even remotely as convenient and suddenly feels like a hassle.

This is the biggest obstacle. This multitude of streaming services, the possibility to watch hundreds of movies whenever we want to.

A single theatre play that costs more than a monthly subscription fee is worth too little and just can’t compete.

Sadly, our addiction to convenience and our aversion to interaction has blinded us to the most interesting art form out there.

Illustration © Claire Faber

EXIT WEST: TERRIFYING DYSTOPIAN FICTION by Daisy Hall

I

n Exit West by Mohsin Hamid, wormholes are used by migrants to escape war-torn cities. This device, which in the hands of another writer may have been clunky and forced, is used here with such a light touch that Hamid creates a world that is utterly real. He explores migration in a place where oceans and borders can be circumvented, and in doing so symbolizes globalization neatly and without fuss. His book can, therefore, be used to discuss the difficulties this causes, but also the methods that might be used to deal with these difficulties.

gentle, a slow and understated love story, with the crackle of gunfire in the background adding only a hint of anxiety. Over the next eleven chapters, this anxiety gradually swells to abject terror. The city is one in which agents must be paid vast fees in order to help citizens escape. Saeed and Nadia end up in London, squatting in an empty house.

They are vilified by ‘nativists’ terrified of their country being taken over and are brutally attacked. They are ordered out by the police, they are starved of electricity and water. All this is utterly believable, mainly because it is true.

The story centres on Saeed and Nadia, a young couple living in an unnamed city, where militants take over and implement an oppressive regime. The first chapter is

And that’s the thing. This is the first book I’ve read in a long time that caused me to feel actual fear. Hamid is carrying on a fine tradition of dystopian fiction, and I do not doubt his book will join Orwell and Huxley

in the ‘terrifying near futures’ section of the literary cannon. But for readers in 2017, this book is so much more than a great example of the genre. Dystopias are crafted from the fears of the time in which they are created.

This is why 1984, or Fahrenheit 451, or even The Handmaid’s Tale can never be as scary for us as this book, which takes some of our society’s greatest fears, and makes them real.

And yet, Hamid allows us hope. His borderless world creates difficulties, largely based around the attempted policing of the doorways and the aggression of ‘nativists’.

Yet, these difficulties are surmounted, and life goes on. So devote an afternoon of your midterm break to this book: it’s not long, but it is very, very important.

A University College Student Association Magazine

ARTS&CULTURE

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TWO CENTS ON THE NFL DEBATE by Thomas Scassellati Sforzolini

C

urrently in the United States, millions of Americans are outraged over NFL players kneeling during the national anthem. This ritual started roughly a year ago when the quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, Colin Kaepernick, surprised everyone by spontaneously kneeling during the national anthem. When asked why he did it, he stated that he was protesting against police brutality towards young black males. Today, the majority of NFL players are taking a knee during the anthem in order to protest systemic racism.

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It is well within someone’s rights to not stand up for the national anthem

So how could this possibly spark controversy? In the United States there are three pillars that form the backbone of American patriotism: the military, the flag, and the national anthem. We Americans have to demonstrate our patriotism by standing up for the national anthem, hand over heart, before every single live sporting event, amateur or professional, as a sign of respect to the flag and to the men/women who served in order to protect and preserve the values it symbolizes. It is for this reason why millions of Americans, including Donald Trump who referred to the kneeling players as “sons of bitches”, are so outraged over these apparently heinous acts. It is to these people I say either you don’t get it or you refuse to get it. Now, personally, I am all for patriotism and respecting the men and women that sacrificed so much to maintain our values. However, it is

well within someone’s right to not stand up for the national anthem and to protest a recurring issue that pertains to their community. In fact the first amendment lists our inalienable rights, one of which is the right to peacefully protest. Also, since there still are signs of systemic racism in the United States, it is logical that people would rally together and form a protest, especially football players due to the fact that they have such a unique platform. The people that fixate themselves on the fact that taking a knee is somehow disrespectful to the US flag and the military are ignoring the reality that America needs to be great for everyone, and right now that is not the case. People in the military sacrifice their lives so that people, such as football players, can continue exercising their rights and not for people to be forced to show blind allegiance to a piece of cloth.

Halloween Tue, 31 October 5:00pm – 11:30pm Seven committees are collaborating to bring you the sickest trick or treat ever.

Boomerang Open Writer’s Meeting Wed, 1 November at 8pm Some cheeky self-promotion MusicCo’s Open Mic Mon, 6 November from 10pm Enjoy chill vibes & craft beers while listening to all the talented people on this campus.

UCStudios Screening: Promised Life Wed, 8 November at 8pm Watch a movie made and produced by your very own UCU students!

Sustainability Pubquiz Fri, 17 November from 10pm Get your hungover butt to the bar and show you have the most sustainable knowledge of all.

I/O-Co’s VR Painting Experience Mon & Tue, multiple timeslots Experience painting in 3D with VR goggles.

Ladies’ Night Tue, 21 November from 10pm One word: Stripper.

ArtsCo Knitting Session Wed, 29 November from 10pm Get your christmas presents ready.

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The Boomerang | October 2017

QUAD QUERIES Bargoers answer the most vital question of this October

“What’s the scariest thing that could happen this Halloween?”

” ng out of TP “The unit bei – Louise

best kissing my “Ending up iend” fr – August

“Being the only one dressed up” – Vivian

“Louise” – Maurits

“Accidental pregnancies” – Alexander

“Lizards” –Ashley

s that don’t “Personalitie ” match – Wouter

“Failure” –Caleb

“I could die I guess” –Joanna

THE BOOMERANG BOARD Clemens Schally | Editor-in-Chief Meike Eijsberg | Managing Editor Charlotte Remarque | Executive Editor Laura Hoogenraad | Executive Editor Aditya Agarwal | Creative Director – Design Nina Gribling | Creative Director – Art Thomas Scassellati Sforzolini | Communications Director

“I can’t be funny about fears. I have a lot” – Tia

Illustration © Nina Gribling & Aditya Agarwal

GUEST EDITOR(S) Saskia Jane Heyster With support from