To avoid disruptions for school children, the OWee will be held during the school holidays. This was the response of the Municipality of Delft to Delta’s questions.
Silent disco at the Proteus rowing club during OWee 2021. (Photo: Daniël Korvemaker)
To avoid disruptions for school children, the OWee and Introduction Programme (IP) will be held during the school holidays. This was the response of the Municipality of Delft to Delta’s questions.
On Friday 27 January, Delta published an article about a permit for the OWee and IP that was not granted. Immediately after publication, Delta asked the Municipality for an explanation. This was received on Wednesday 1 February. The information largely reflected the joint press statement by the Mayor and the Rector of TU Delft who sent the spokesperson.
It states that the decision to not issue a permit for the week of 20 August is ‘carefully considered and final’. ‘The Municipality prefers the OWee to be held between Sunday 13 August and Friday 18 August 2023. This means that the OWee will fall in the school holidays and this will avoid noise problems for children who have to go to school and people who have to go to work the next day.’
- Also read: Municipality rejects permit for OWee
It also states that in the summer of 2022, the Municipality had stated that the OWee ‘must be held in the last week of the summer holidays as usual’. This has not always been the case. Upon investigation, Delta found that the 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017 and 2021 OWees were held outside the school holidays. In 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2019 the OWees were held during the school holidays. In 2020, because of the Covid pandemic, the OWee lasted two weeks. The first week was during the school holiday, the second week was outside it.
The Municipality admits that OWees held during the holiday has pros and cons. ‘But this also applies to an introduction week just after the summer holiday.’
‘We have great confidence in our students and their organisational talent’
‘TU Delft understands the Mayor’s considerations’, says Rector Magnificus Tim van der Hagen in the joint press statement. ‘We assume that everyone, including the student associations and the students themselves, take their responsibility. We have great confidence in our students and their organisational talent.’
According to the Municipality, the contact with TU Delft and the introduction committees is ‘fine’. ‘We have already worked intensively and well with them, and will do everything we can with TU Delft to make the OWee pleasant for the students and the city. The Municipality, TU Delft and the student associations will work on this together.’
In the meantime, the organisers of the OWee have made the new date known on its official channels. The organisers request that the new students that wish to join a first-years’ weekend keep the weekend before the OWee free.
- What should now happen with the first-years’ weekends? Keep an eye on this website for a response from the study associations.
Comments are closed.