Dé Partij student council party wants ‘a new voice’

After 12 years of serving on the Student Council, Oras and Lijst Bèta are facing competition in the forthcoming Student Council elections on 10 and 11 May from a third party. Dé Partij – which means The Party – has submitted three nominees: Koos Meesters, Jorrit Greep and Florent Appert. The three bachelor students and housemates are critical of TU Delft’s ‘one-sided restrictive policy’ as they call it when we talk. The most important example of this is the alcohol policy that bans alcohol on campus before 17:00. They also do not think the current Student Council is visible enough. This must come as a shock for Oras and Lijst Bèta. What do they think of Dé Partij and the subjects that it stands for?

Enjoyable student life
First Dé Partij itself. What brought Koos, Jorrit and Florent to the point of setting up the party? They started thinking about it in the summer of 2022, they say. “The other parties have stuck to the same issues for five years, such as paying per credit about which we never hear a thing,” says Jorrit. “We want to offer more choice and raise the number of people who vote.” At 29.3%, the nation-wide turnout in 2022 was relatively high, but Koos mostly sees the 70% who did not vote. “The rest is disengaged or do not even know that the Student Council exists. We think they just want an enjoyable student life so that’s where we are putting our efforts. We want to reach them.”

^{From left to right: Jorrit Greep, Koos Meesters and Florent Appert. (Photo: Dé Partij)}

The three believe that doing so starts with a ‘fun campaign’ with posters and ‘funny texts’. The ‘Maak van het partijkartel, Dé Partijkartel’ (turn the party cartel into The Party cartel) posters that appeared in mid-April around the city falls into this category, says Koos. While this slogan makes you think of the Forum voor Democratie far right wing political party, the students say that they have nothing to do with that party. “It is just a play on words. We concentrate on students’ issues and are not associated with any national party.” They do not yet know what the rest of the campaign will be like. Koos, Jorrit and Florent have also just done exams. On top of sticking up posters, the three students also want to distribute flyers and use their social media.

‘We would be hugely happy with just one seat’

Their goal is not written in stone, but “we would be hugely happy with just one seat”, says Koos. The three do not yet have a constituency or any help, but are intending to become ‘the newly established party, with a different and more explicit voice’. They plan to continue running a campaign after the elections and, if necessary, ‘have a different voice heard’. One example would be on the alcohol policy. The Student Council was not consulted on the policy, but that would not have stopped Dé Partij from sharing its opinion. The later time that drinks are permitted on campus means that students leave after their last lectures and, for people that do not feel a strong bond with TU Delft in particular, this poses a hurdle for them to come back to the faculties’ bars. “You miss the opportunity to integrate.”

How will Dé Partij position itself on the Student Council, should it manage to win one or more seats? Will it continue to oppose Oras and Lijst Bèta? Koos says that this is not the intention. “We are not an opposition party. We also believe that it is best if the Student Council speaks in one voice vis-à-vis the Executive Board and not let the message be watered down.”

Oras and Lijst Bèta’s response
When asked, current Student Council members expressed in a joint written response that they believe it is important for every student to feel represented. ‘Should this not be the case at present, a new vision on things would help and this could be introduced by a new party. We are always open for input from students who would like to see change at TU Delft. Unfortunately, Koos, Jorrit and Florent have never sought contact with the current Student Council to share the issues that they come across. We have approached Dé Partij for an initial meeting so that we can get to know each other.’

The current members admit that the Student Council’s visibility could be improved. ‘This is brought up at every meeting with the Executive Board. We now share the public meetings on TU Delft’s Instagram channel and we have discussed the visibility of the Student Council at large events such as the OWee. Our office is also open every day and we regularly receive students and staff members to discuss current issues at TU Delft.’

‘We want a Student Council that is firmly embedded in the student community’

‘We want a Student Council that is firmly embedded in the student community, and that knows what is happening. To do this we regularly have meals in the evening with various student boards and have drinks at student associations to ensure that we have a foot in both worlds, so we sometimes appear in a yellow polo shirt (Oras) or a blue t-shirt (Lijst Bèta) and sometimes we don’t. The parties’ activities are shared on our social media channels and are easy to follow. If you do not actively follow national politics, you do not know the issues at stake in society and this is no different for the Student Council.’

Neither Oras nor Lijst Bèta are intending to adapt the election campaign now that a third party is standing for seats. “Oras has worked for active and motivated students for 50 years,” says Chair Marten Leenders. “We will continue working on our three pillars: the highest quality education supported by the right facilities and plenty of opportunity to develop. We see that these have have positive results and many students, including ourselves, believe in our vision. So we will continue to work hard towards these.”

Lijst Bèta Chair Abdelkader Karbache says that he embraces the further democratisation of the Student Council. “For us, the quality of education is the most important issue as we consider it a unifying factor for all students at TU Delft. We believe it is important that this vision remains high on the agenda regardless of which and how many parties are involved.”

By Saskia Bonger and Marjolein van der Veldt

• Also read: New party wants to join Student Council
• Want to know more about the elections and the candidates? Students can log on to the dedicated election website.