#UvAStudentElections | Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences: vote for either UvASociaal or De Vrije Student
Between May 13th and May 17th you can vote for the Central Student Council and your Faculty Student Council by visiting stem.uva.nl. But why should you vote? We make it easy for you. In the next days we’ll speak with all the party leaders. Today: Tom Flipse (De Vrije Student) and three party leaders from UvASociaal: Siddarth Mahesh Jethwani, Hahae Son and Nadya Manuputty from the Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences (FSBS).
For the first time the faculty has been split up into several voting districts. This means that students of the four different study-programs can only vote on candidates of their own program. Unfortunately this means that students of the study-program Child Development & Education cannot vote for the Faculty Student Council since there are no candidates of this program. However, they can vote for the Central Student Council. The faculty is still faced with a deficit and English is more and more used in the programs.
District: Social sciences
Describe your party in five key words.
Tom Flipse (De Vrije Student): ‘Free, flexible, accessible, ambitious, constructive.’
Siddarth Mahesh Jethwani (UvASociaal): ‘Progressive, dynamic, diverse, supportive, open-minded.’
English or Dutch?
Tom: ‘English, as long as the quality of education is not affected.’
Siddarth: ‘My preference very much depends on the context.’
What does your party want to achieve in the council next year?
Tom: ‘We want to reduce issues that prevent students from reaching their full potential. That is why I am fighting for a flexible BSA, digitisation and better personal support.’
Siddarth: ‘While settling into the city, I faced great difficulties with issues such as housing and homesickness. The university should play a major role in assisting students to alleviate such issues, but cannot do so effectively without their active involvement.’
What are your personal motives?
Tom: ‘Dutch universities are caught up in a major competitive battle, where quantity is more important than quality, and the curriculum is considered more important than the freedom to determine your own path. After five years of studying, I have life and work experience, an extensive CV, but I don’t have a certificate; it was never possible to combine an internship with lectures.’
Siddarth: ‘While settling into the city, I faced great difficulties with issues such as housing and homesickness. The university should play a major role in assisting students to alleviate such issues, but cannot do so effectively without their active involvement.’
District: Psychology
Candidate: Nadya Manuputty (UvASociaal)
Describe your party in five key words.
‘Education, diversity, sustainability, social, accessibility.’
English or Dutch?
‘English. In an increasingly international world, it is important to be able to speak English. This also ensures more connectedness and more cohesion.’
What does your party want to achieve in the council next year?
‘I want to stand up for the interests of fellow students. Due to the internationalisation of many courses at our faculty, I have seen many problems arise; translation problems, overcrowded canteens, and housing problems.’
What are your personal motives?
‘I have sent a lot of e-mails to various people at the UvA, but I always get the feeling that I don’t have enough resources to stand up for my fellow students. That is one of the reasons why I stand for election for the student council.’
District: Communication Sciences
Candidate: Hahae Son (UvASociaal)
Describe your party in five key words.
‘Include, engage, listen, represent, fight.’
English or Dutch?
‘To choose one, is to exclude the other. Such a binary question only divides, this requires context and unity.’
What does your party want to achieve in the council next year?
‘A diverse and engaged student community that thinks beyond campus borders. At the end of the day, diversity, accessibility, sustainability, and education all reach for this overarching goal.’
What are your personal motives for wanting to do this?
‘Whether I like it or not, I am naturally observant and conscious of my environment. Looking around me, I see inequality, and I see the people affected struggling to speak up. No longer do I merely wish to observe.’
