Is it an eternal shame that there are no student council elections this year?

MARLIES: The new student council members will be perfectly capable of doing their job properly. In that sense it is not necessary to hold elections. But it is a pity not to for two reasons. Firstly because the new council members are less obliged to think through their ideas. After all, they do not have to hold their own against other candidates and other parties. And secondly, because the student council, which probably already did not mean much to the average student, now gets much less attention. The student council elections are always one of the few moments when many students were at least somewhat aware of it. A moment when they were reminded of its existence. The fact that students get to discuss policies and influence things is a very good thing in my view. JILLIS RESPONDS: Sadly I don’t think there was much interest in the student council among students – even during elections. Perhaps this is because students doubt whether the council has any real influence. What has the student council really meant, concretely? The influence you have as a voter should motivate students to vote and to take an interest in the council. If that influence really exists, that is. JILLIS: The student council: for years a phenomenon which appeared to be of interest to very few students, apart from those sitting on it. In my early years in Wageningen you still had three parties, then they went down to two and now Pulse/PSF (apparently they could not go it alone) has dropped out of the running too. Not a problem, if you ask me, because the students sitting on the council all want roughly the same thing anyway. Here and there you get a different emphasis, but all students want good facilities, inspiring teachers and to have their exams graded quickly. In fact you hardly need to hold election for this, especially seeing that the interest in being on this council is very minimal. Every year they have to beg for new candidates. Just make VeSte the registration point for anyone interested. It will avoid a lot of red tape. MARLIES RESPONDS: It is true that few students really take much notice of it, but most students do think it’s important to have a student council. Anyway, PSF was bigger than VeSte for years and then it was VeSte that couldn’t find candidates…