Student - September 9, 2009
Student societies are hip again
It's the in thing again to join a student society. The Wageningen societies have attracted a record number of first years, but yet again Osiris at VHL Leeuwarden has come out on top.
SSR-W has attracted 118 students. Youth organization Unitas, which called it a day before the summer but then decided to go on as a social club after all, has 40 to its credit.
The growth in the number of first years at Wageningen University cannot quite explain the attraction of the societies. While student numbers have grown by fifteen percent, association memberships keep growing by thirty to thirty-nine percent.
Even Nji Sri, which used to be at Larenstein in Deventer, has recovered from the dip after its move to Wageningen in 2007, and bagged 32 new members. The rival student associations in Velp, however, have less reason to celebrate. Arboricultura claims to have rounded up at least thirty new 'gaîten' (local term for 'goats') while it hasn't even counted the actual score. Quercus has counted more than twenty new members, but will actively continue to recruit more in the coming weeks.
A different atmosphere prevails at Van Hall Larenstein in Leeuwarden, where Osiris holds the monopoly. This student society with 176 members is once again the biggest in Wageningen UR. 'More people have opted for a student society this year', says Marthijn Broeils of Osiris. 'We had just as many members as last year during the introduction week but many more came on board in the week after that.'
New members per student club
2009
2008
2007
Ceres
157
100
86
KSV St. Franciscus
160
90
93
SSR-W
118
85
55
Nji-Sri
32
20
35
Osiris
176
153
137
Arboricultura
30-40
40
40-50
Quercus
20-25
30
40-50
2009: provisional figures before the start of the year