Doesn’t Nji Sri have to leave Wageningen now with the VHL students? ‘It is true that we started out as a society for students from Van Hall Larenstein, but in recent years so many students from Wageningen University have joined that it’s not on just to say, sorry guys but we’re moving to Velp. Of the 130-odd members of Nji Sri, only about 15 are at VHL. And there are already two sister societies in Velp.
What are those 15 students going to do? I can imagine they have really put down roots at the society.
The board has had long talks with them about the move; of course it is a real shame if your society is not in the same town as your university. But hardly any students have told me they will leave us, which is really great. Many of them have built up a life in Wageningen, they live here and are in fraternities and on committees. So that makes it quite a job to start afresh somewhere new. Those in the later years of their degree course don’t have all that many classes anymore, so they will defi nitely stay with Nji Sri. The younger students will just come back. It’s not that far.
Why do you think Nji Sri has become so popular with Wageningen University students?
That’s hard to say. Speaking for myself, as a student of Nutrition and Health, Nji Sri feels like a very close society. We are small, we all know each other, we are just like one big family. I come from Friesland and that village feeling really appealed to me. Nji Sri-ers tend to be very actively involved in the society. There are only 130 of us so you really have to make something of it together. And then the society has a name for being a bit crazy: at our place you can still dance on the tables and let your hair down after the other societies have closed.