De Pot

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In Solheim worden de twee toiletten op de begane grond met respect behandeld. Ze zijn dan ook nog steeds voorzien van het originele hang- en sluitwerk uit 1932. De toenmalige directeur van de Gist-fabriek, W.H. van Leeuwen, liet het huis bouwen voor zijn gezin. De toiletruimte is voorzien van prachtige details. Hij liet een glas-in-loodraam plaatsen met een afbeelding van zijn Gistfabriek. Omdat zijn vrouw van Scandinavische afkomst was en geloofde in sprookjes, liet hij een ronde deurpost maken zodat de eventueel aanwezige trollen compleet gedesoriënteerd zouden raken. Maar de spiegels in het voorportaal zijn het mooiste detail: bij binnenkomst zijn de toiletten zichtbaar via de spiegels en is te zien of deze bezet zijn.

Dit was de laatste aflevering van deze rubriek. 

What’s new with Studium Generale (SG) in 2011? 
“SG, founded in 1946 for all Dutch universities, celebrates its 65th anniversary this year. Delft is the oldest SG branch, and this year we’ll have some interesting speakers, including former Dutch Prime Minister, Dries van Agt, and other well-known people. Our February 2nd lunch lecture on ‘Free Energy’, given by Dick Korf, will be a real eye-opener!”

What is SG’s relationship like with Collegerama?
“We’re very popular with Collegerama, partly because we had 50,000 viewers for our online lectures last year. The two UFO lectures I gave personally had over 20,000 viewers alone.”

Looking at SG’s site, there aren’t many ‘in English’ lectures listed. Why so few open to the TU’s English-only internationals?
“We discovered that internationals students are (1) not very motivated to do many other things than studying, and (2) that it’s extremely difficult to work together with international students on co-organised programmes, so we’re doing a bit less now than in the pilot year. Unfortunately past programmes specifically for international students were visited by only a small minority of international students.”

Why is that?
“It’s been said that many international students pay lots of money to study here and therefore want to succeed and not encounter delays. They work harder than Dutch students.”

So you don’t regard internationals as viable users of the SG product?
“We do, so we’re now thinking of ways to work together with international students organisations, like the Iranian and Chinese student associations.”

Are there any specific problems associated with hosting events in English rather than Dutch?
“Language – Dutch or English – isn’t the problem. But the Dutch generally prefer lectures in Dutch. Moreover, many Dutch speakers speak English poorly, so we don’t ask them to lecture in English, and some lecturers also refuse to lecture in English.”

Studium Generale’s next ‘in-English’ lecture is on January 31, when Susan Joy Rennison, a renowned geophysist and author, comes to Delft to talk about ‘Space Weather: Implications for planet Earth and humankind’. According to Richard Fisher, head of Nasa’s Heliophysics Division: “Earth and space are about to come into contact in a way that’s new to human history. I believe we’re on the threshold of a new era in which space weather can be as influential in our daily lives as ordinary terrestrial weather.” Rennison argues that engineering students must realise that during severe Space Weather events, uncontrolled electric currents will flow through virtually everything on the planet. 

‘Space Weather’ lecture by Susan Joy Rennison, Monday 31 January 2011, 19:30, Prinsenhof, entrance Oude Delft 183B. Price: students free; others €10.00