Why so few students vote
Didn’t know, don’t care
Door Maria Flori
By Maria Flori
Maria Flori
‘Elections? I had no idea! Nobody told me’, says Milou Hazemeijer, a psychology student. She’s just hopping off her bicycle and rushing to get to her class at the behavioural sciences building at Zernike. But now that she does know, she still doesn’t think she will vote.
‘I won’t vote,’ echoes international relations student Zack Peach, while enjoying some sun on the Academy building’s stairs. ‘I didn’t even know there was an election. And even if I had known, I don’t know who to vote for, what I’m voting on, or how it will affect me.’
And linguistics students Frederike and Mirthe, taking a break in the Harmonie building cafeteria, squint their eyes at the question as if trying to solve a maths problem. ‘Whaaat? What elections?’ they ask. ‘Oooh, right! I think we got an email. But I don’t think I’ll vote – I don’t really know much about it and I don’t have time.’
Major decisions
The number of students voting in the university elections has slowly been decreasing for years. Ten years ago, over 30 percent of students voted, but gradually to around 22 percent, with an small upward bump last year to 24 percent. All the while, the university tries to make it as easy as possible for students to vote for someone who will represent them in the faculty councils and university council. All they have to do is click.
Council candidates promised change, but we haven’t seen any of it
So what is holding them back? Because while ballots go unclicked years in a row, major decisions are being made. Students have a say in the way the university handles the budget cuts, for example. They have a seat at the table when it comes to educational reforms. And they can ask for the board’s attention concerning problems students wrestle with, such as mental health.
Some students simply have no idea there even are elections, like Milou, Zack, Frederike and Mirthe. But others just don’t care, like economics student Maurits Bijma. ‘I haven’t really looked into the elections that much’, he says. ‘But why should I care about something that’s not going to change my study experience?’
The university council deals with big-picture stuff, he says, but the faculty council feels distant too. What they discuss rarely affects his specific programme and studying experience. ‘How many things are actually going to change? Probably not many.’
Popularity contest
There are also those who believe their representatives don’t do enough. ‘Last year, council candidates promised change, but we haven’t seen any of it’, says Sam Woods, who studies economics and business economics. ‘They just handed out coffee and said: “Vote for us.” That’s not campaigning, that’s advertising.’
The elections seem more like a popularity contest to him. And because the promises didn’t stick, his interest didn’t either.
The same goes for Konstantinos Koufopoulos, a marketing analytics and data science student from Greece. He intentionally chose not to vote the last couple of years and won’t this year, either. Not because he’s indifferent, but because he is fed up with the whole system.
In Greece, he says, student politics often feel toxic and party-driven. He thinks it’s the same in the Netherlands. ‘I think it’s more about personal agendas than real change.’ While things here might not be as fanatical as in his home country, transparency and trust are still missing, he feels.
He doesn’t want to be told elections matter. ‘The system needs to prove itself, and be transparent. If it’s not about career building or empty promises, then show us. Communicate. Be visible.’
Fighting to survive
And so the gap between students who don’t vote and the students who are actually on the councils is growing. The representatives of the different faculty councils worry about that. The university and its faculties face serious educational reforms due to the budget cuts, after all, and the decisions the boards make will shape the university for years to come.
They come to me all the time with complaints or ideas, but then they don’t vote
‘Professors will be fired, departments will close, and education will become impersonal’, says arts faculty council member Savvas Parasidis. Reforms pushed from above, along with poor communication and little student input, put the very idea of personal, high-quality education at risk. ‘This isn’t just a budget issue. It’s about what kind of university we want in the future.’
‘We’re not fighting for improvements – we’re fighting to survive’, says council member Austin Brewin from the Faculty of Religion, Culture and Society. He sees elective courses disappearing and programmes shrinking, and staff are expected to do more with less.
No energy
But still students don’t vote. ‘They come to me all the time with complaints or ideas, but then they don’t vote’, Parasidis says, frustrated. ‘They want change, but don’t use the one tool they have to make it happen.’
‘We’ve had huge budget cuts and spent hours trying to preserve the programme and change things, but no one really sees that’, says Nolan Heinrich, council member at University College Groningen. ‘We do what we can to promote voting, but people either don’t care or they’re not listening.’
Some council members believe students just don’t have the energy to really care anymore. ‘They are working, taking extracurriculars, stressing about student loans. You’re not going to take on more responsibility on top of that’, Brewin says.
Bad system
Others, though, feel the system is also partly to blame. ‘The voting process needs to be explained to students’, says Lizayra Dassen, vice chair of the UMCG faculty council. But the medical faculty – for example – has no space for posters, flyers, or free coffee campaigning.
No one pays attention, and no one’s encouraged to vote
She thinks the university should step in and make voting part of the curriculum. ‘Tell students how it works from the start, put it on Brightspace, and get lecturers to talk about it in class. If no one tells them, how are they supposed to know?’
Vasu Sinha from spatial sciences agrees with her. ‘People don’t know what’s going on. No one pays attention, and no one’s encouraged to vote’, he says. His council got to work by issuing newsletters, updates, and feedback forms. Quick fixes to make students feel seen, and their vote actually count. ‘Changes are coming’, he says. ‘We want to make sure students know they have a say in those.’
More votes, more change
But there are also student representatives who think students just don’t believe in the system anymore. ‘They’ve tried to make changes, but things have remained the same’, says Efe Cengiz from the Campus Fryslân council. ‘This leads students to not engage or show interest, since their actions are not taken into account. This cycle of things not changing is why students don’t care.’
However, students really, really need to vote, says Parasidis: ‘Democracy exists for a reason. If you want change, you need to change whoever represents you. The more votes, the more change – variety within the votes means a variety in voices.’
‘Voting is not a survey’, adds Cengiz. ‘Be active, be involved.’
What do the councils do?
Between 12 and 16 May, students and staff can once again vote for representatives on the university council and various faculty councils.
The councils at the University of Groningen are made up of equal numbers of students and staff. They consult with the university’s management on financial matters, changes in education, and much more. Many proposals can’t go ahead without the councils’ approval. For other topics, the boards are required by law to ask the councils for advice.
Faculty councils can also bring up their own issues. These might include student mental health, sustainability, free tampons in toilets, or the need for more study spaces.