Duwo and the blame game

The issue of Duwo’s supposed disparate treatment of Dutch and international students is heating up within TU Delft’s internationals community, with many internationals dissatisfied with certain aspects of their Duwo housing situations. Gijsbert Mul, manager of Duwo’s Short Stay Housing, agreed to meet Delta to discuss this and other contentious issues. He also took the liberty of inviting Elco van Noort, head of TU Delft’s International Office, to join the session.

“Many responsibilities and measures with major impact on international students are taken by TU Delft, and only partly by Duwo,” Van Noort said. “Yet Duwo always gets the complete blame. I’m here so that Duwo and TU Delft can take the blame together.” 
Apart from academics, it’s important for international students to integrate in with the local culture, yet there’s but a miniscule chance for such interactions between Dutch and international students, as these two groups live totally apart from each other. Van Noort said: “We’ve already reserved rooms in most of the existing complexes. In the last few years, we’ve been mixing it up in the new complexes. It’s not changing very fast, but it’s indeed changing. Since last year, we also have a digital system in which students can choose the buildings they want to stay in.”

Mul added: “There was a sudden wave of international students in recent years, and to meet this demand we had to build several complexes exclusively for internationals.”
When asked why internationals rarely live in the housing situated in Delft city center, as many Dutch students do, Mul replied: “Internationals are not booked in houses in the center of Delft. In these houses, Dutch students have to compete a lot: they have to wait for years, attend instemmingen and then get the houses. Of course international students can get these houses, but they must face the same competition. Otherwise, it would be unfair to Dutch students: they’d have to wait for long, while international students would get easy reservations.” 

What about more serious allegations, like exorbitant rental rates? Take for example a space box, where the total rent is 390 euros, but the basic rent 243 euros. What are those remaining 150 euros for?
“The basic rent is the same for Dutch and international students. Furnishing, bed linen, cutlery box, cleaning, internet and such are special services and given only to international students. Dutch students receive rent allowances, which reduces their total rent,” Mul explained. “Also, cost stabilization is important for us. When you look at charges on services, Dutch students are charged for their energy usage on a yearly basis. Since they pay their energy costs at the end of the year, they know they must limit their usage to save money. It’s not possible to do the same for international students, as once they’ve left the country, Duwo cannot get back to these students to make them pay their surplus amount. Consequently, a flat-rate system, with no restrictions on usage, was introduced for international students. However, we’re going to start a pilot project in The Hague, testing a system wherein international students get refunds if their energy use is lower than what they’ve paid for.”

Curtains
When asked about the monthly charge for kitchen utensils, Mul references a Delta column written by Devin Malone, an international student. “I regret Mr. Malone’s article. It isn’t true. We charge 5 euros for the kitchen inventory and 5 euros for bed linen.  The cost exists because every student arriving at Duwo gets the new utensils box. We calculate the price based upon the average staying time for one student, which works out to 8 months. We discussed this with Diss, and starting in the new academic year, Duwo will give students the option of buying the inventory box with a one-time payment.” Van Noort adds: “But TU Delft decided to make the bed linen not optional. When students come here, we want sheets on the bed and curtains in the rooms.”

It’s an open secret that almost the entire international student community is of the opinion that Duwo is trying to profit out of the international student housing business. “There are a lot of rumors about this,” Mul agreed. “For us, this is a major problem. We try to make it clear to everybody, try to talk to everybody, play open, show what the costs are, how much costs we face to have our international guests at Delft.” Van Noort adds: “We’ve listed 12 agencies on our website. You can look at them: find out the advantages and disadvantages.”

There are also many rumors about high contract costs (150 euros at the start) and contract extension charges (50 euros). Why are these costs so high? “Duwo faces far more costs in housing international students due to the short period of tenancy, and the higher service level,” Mul says. “At our reception desk, we have more personnel serving the 1,400 international students and guests than for 5,000 Dutch students. In the back office, one caretaker can ‘take care’ of far more unfurnished student rooms for Dutch students than the fully furnished, one room apartments for international students.  These extra personnel have to be paid.”

In recent months, there’s also been talk about the FttD internet service being replaced by another service, which would result in an increase of 12.50 euros in rent. Van Noort: “TU Delft has been prohibited by the mother organization, SurfNet, to act as an internet provider for its staff and students – both national and international.”
Mul adds: “We have a good deal with the provider, for 12.50 euros; usually a good internet connection costs between 20 and 30 euros. We plan to switch to the new provider between now and the end of this year. But I want to stress that it isn’t our choice.”

During the conversation, Van Noort shot a ‘typically Dutch’ direct question at Mul, asking if Duwo was profiting from international students. “Not more than the profits from Dutch students,” Mul replied. “In the last five years, Duwo has had no profits, only losses, on our exploitation. More recently, the government introduced several measures forcing us to increase rents for both Dutch and international students.”

It was then our turn to ask a blunt question: why did the TU choose Duwo to monopolize Delft’s student housing market. “I disagree with you,” Mul answered. “It’s not a monopoly. If you wish, you can try Rotsvast, which would provide a furnished house for prices way too high for students.” Van Noort added: “We’ve built up this relationship with Duwo over many, many years. Within Delft, there’s nobody else who specializes in student housing. We don’t have an alternative to Duwo.”

Durf jij nog een broodje shoarma te happen sinds een paar jaar geleden sperma in de knoflooksaus is gevonden? En kokhals jij ook nog steeds bij het verhaal over die Leidse student die urine dronk tijdens een autopsiepracticum? Relax: allemaal broodjes aap. Het is maar een kleine greep uit de talloze ‘urban legends’ die nog altijd rondzingen. Of… zijn ze waar gebeurd? 

Na een paar jaar studie in Delft weet je wel waar de goeie tenten zitten. Twee derdejaars studenten waren in 1992 dan ook met de stomheid geslagen toen ze zich na een broodje shoarma beroerd voelden. Zó beroerd, dat ze op de eerste hulp belandden. Daar weten de artsen de toestand van het stel aan hun alcoholconsumptie, en pompten hun magen leeg. “Wat jullie tussen de lakens doen is jullie eigen zaak, maar misschien is het verstandig om het de volgende keer veiliger te doen”, meldde een van de artsen later droogjes aan hun bedden. In de maag van de studenten had hij vijf soorten sperma aangetroffen.

Een simpel belletje van de – zich van geen kwaad bewuste – studenten naar de Keuringsdienst van Waren, was genoeg om het assortiment van de shoarmaboer eens onder de loep te nemen. Het vlees bleek pico bello. De shoarmasaus ook – qua houdbaarheid dan. Er zat alleen sperma in van vijf verschillende mannen. De zaak kon zijn deuren per direct sluiten – om ze twee jaar later weer te openen, volgens de legende.

Tja. Maar over welke shoarmazaak gaat dit verhaal nu eigenlijk? En waarom kent niemand de namen van die studenten? Bij nader rondvragen blijkt iedereen wel een versie van dit verhaal te kennen, maar dan bijvoorbeeld met een pasgetrouwd stel in de hoofdrol, of studenten uit Groningen, Maastricht of zelfs New York. Want ook wereldwijd is dit verhaal bekend, blijkt uit onderzoek van het Meertens Instituut, dat het aanduidt als de legende ‘Masturbating into food’. Broodje aap dus, zou je zeggen. Al is het maar omdat een béétje student weet dat je van een slokje sperma écht niet ziek wordt…

Als we Wikipedia moeten geloven, zit er toch zeker een kern van waarheid in deze legende. In Utrecht zou een shoarmazaakmedewerker daadwerkelijk ontslag hebben genomen vanwege de beschuldigingen. En feit is dat niet elke kok even hygiënisch te werk gaat; één keer vergeten handen te wassen en de sla op je peperdure voorgerechtje bevat een schrikbarende portie darmbacteriën. Het zou dezelfde reden zijn waarom de gratis bakjes pinda’s op de bar in de kroeg regelmatig urinesporen bevatten; bezoekers wassen hun handen niet en doen vervolgens een gulzige graai in het bakje. En je moet er maar niet bij nadenken wat een (letterlijk) pissige kok met je prakje kan uitvoeren als je net iets te hoge eisen stelt – een flinke fluim verdwijnt onzichtbaar in je sausje.

Een Delftse shoarmaboer die niet met zijn naam in de krant wil, beweert overigens dat hij de spermalegende nog minstens eens in de paar maanden voorbij hoort komen, als studenten ‘met knoflook, zonder sperma alstublieft’ bij hun schotel bestellen. Zijn zaken ondervinden er geen nadeel van, zegt hij. Behalve bij dat ene meisje dan, dat met een groepje eerstejaars een broodje shoarma bestelde, het broodje aap voorgeschoteld kreeg, en zei: “Laat maar, ik haal wel een patatje.”