There are two employee parties in the university council (the personnel faction and the science faction) and five student parties (SOG, Lijst Calimero, DAG, De Vrije Student, and the recently founded International Platform, which represents the more than 7,000 international students at the RUG).
The Groninger Student Union (GSb) has set up a voting aid to help students figure out who to vote for. By answering nine statements (about topics such as housing, Anglicisation, and flexible studying), students will be able to narrow down their choices.
Decision
‘We know from experience that very few students actually read the party programmes’, says GSb president Jolien Bruinewoud. ‘The voting aid should help people gain insight into the party’s various viewpoints so they can make a proper decision’.
The past few years, approximately 30 percent of students and staff at the RUG voted in the elections. The GSb hopes the voting aid will give students insight into the views of the various parties and recommend the best fit.
The new party International Platform, which didn’t hit the scene until last week, is not included in the voting aid.
Slogans
At the Harmonie quad in the city centre, anonymous persons sprayed slogans on the ground overnight on Sunday. They mainly protest the university as a business. ‘Managers get out, we know what you are all about’ and, in Dutch, ‘CVB, weg er-’.
That final slogan was left unfinished, possibly because the persons responsible ran out of paint or because they were about to be caught. An empty spray can was later found near the quad.
The RUG has reported the incident as vandalism. The election stands that were stationed on the quad on Monday will probably move to the other side of the arches to allow for the cleaning of the quad.