#ukrant

In the 2nd part of this 3 part series, we consider the Waterboard elections held in March 2019 and the way that university newspapers tried to use the event as a platform to forge new connections and strengthen existing ones with its community.

At Team Begin, we are comprised of a diverse group of people from different parts of the world with different backgrounds. However, one thing that we all have in common is that we are international students facing certain common challenges and issues when it comes to integrating with life in Maastricht while studying at a Dutch university. The language barrier does pose a problem at times, for instance when trying to become politically engaged and active, as with the provincial and waterboard elections that were held in March 2019.

As an international, non-Dutch citizen, I was surprised to receive a “stempas” from the Geemente in my mailbox one morning in mid-March – apparently, I was eligible to vote in the upcoming waterboard elections. As I was not aware of the relevant political issues at stake, I decided to educate myself. I found that university newspapers are pretty good sources for explaining the basics for the first time voter.

The Ukrant, the newspaper of the University of Gronigen, does a good job of unpacking exactly what the elections are about, and also goes on to specify exactly who is eligible to vote in which election (provincial & waterboard) in this article (in English). The Erasmus Magazine, of Erasmus University Rotterdam, went one step further and interviewed multiple students and professors at voting booths to try to get an idea of the issues that they felt were important in this English article.  The Folia, the newspaper of the University of Amsterdam, carried out an exit poll at two stations and gave a brief break-up as to which way their sample had voted (in Dutch).

Once the election results were out, the Observant of Maastricht published this analysis (in Dutch) detailing a city wise break-up of the votes garnered by the various parties (The Forum for Democracy, or FvD, led by Theirry Baudet, emerged as the single largest party in the Senate with 13 seats). The Ukrant carried out a detailed analysis of this “upset” victory by carrying out a detailed interview with three RUG students who had voted for FvD to figure out what they were motivated by ( in English). This profile piece is differentiated by the genuine effort undertaken by the journalists to connect with the student body and the effort to cover their views in an unbiased and balanced manner.

What do these election results mean for universities? The DUB, the University of Utrecht’s newspaper, posted this piece (available in both English & Dutch) about certain statements that Baudet had made in the past regarding the quality of education and even “indoctrination” at universities.  The Folia interviewed multiple staff members and academics about what they thought FvD’s victory implied in this Dutch opinion piece which elicited quite the debate amongst readers in the Comments section. The Observant also recorded the UM staff & professors’ response to Baudet’s criticism in this Dutch article that summarizes the contents of an open letter by academicians (including 70 UMers) to the FvD.

The study association InDuplo of Erasmus University of Rotterdam invited Baudet for an open debate specifically about his views on climate change, and to ensure that the focus remained on the issues, discouraged live media & TV stations from attending the event – this was rather a refreshing change for someone like me who is used to non-stop live telecasts from politicians.  

You may be wondering why national politics is a topic of relevance for the university newspaper in the first place. In the next post in this 3 part series, we go on to answer that question and describe why university newspapers are so crucial in fostering independent and critical thought in civic life.  

Stay tuned for the final part in this series! 

- Mousumi 

Part 1: Empathetic Journalism & What it Means for the Observant