OWee organisation advises against membership of one first year student

The WhatsApp group is a closed group for the TU Delft student associations that took part in the 2023 OWee. The message was issued by the OWee supervision team. Through its grapevine, Delta was able to see the screenshot. The name of the first year student was concealed by red ink.

The name of the student in question was covered before Delta saw the WhatsApp message. Delta concealed the student’s address and other personal details in blue.

In the message the supervision team wrote that it had had a talk with the underage first year student who was caught drinking alcohol at the Cantus. Allegedly, the prospective student found the incident ‘mostly very funny’ and showed ‘absolutely no remorse’. The supervision team continues by saying that the student claimed to not want to be a member of any student association, but the author assumes ‘that he wanted to outsmart us and lied’. The message ends with a recommendation: ‘As he was when we spoke to him, we would never admit him. But that is of course your decision.’

 

That the alcohol policy at the OWee is strict is already clear from the preventive measures that the organisation has taken and the breathalyser tests that some student associations independently took of minors. The minors, as in previous years, were recognisable by their wristbands, which are a different colour to the other students. If they were caught drinking alcohol, their wristband was cut, their name noted, and they had to meet with the OWee organisation the next day. They were not permitted to join the OWee in the meantime.

 

The meeting with the first year student caught drinking took place the day after the OWee. A TU Delft spokesperson suspects that this was one of the factors that led to the name being shared in the student associations’ WhatsApp group. Banning him from the introduction week on the very last day was pointless.

That said, the overriding factor, says the spokesperson who has spoken to those involved, was the attitude of the student during the meeting. “He had consciously drunk alcohol while this is not permitted for underaged persons, and was also not able to identify himself. These completely go against the house rules of the OWee. He also acted as if everything was normal. During the discussion with TU Delft, it became clear that he did not take the severity of the meeting seriously. He showed no remorse.”

Does the advice for student associations not to accept him go too far? The decision was taken “in the heat of the moment” says the spokesperson, “at the end of an intense week. It may not be the most obvious action but, in the light of the alcohol covenant signed by all involved, it is an effective one.” The current regulations (in Dutch) do not include this particular measure. “We will communicate the regulations even more clearly to the attendees and state the consequences of any misbehaviour.”

The spokesperson emphasises that there is much at stake for TU Delft. “We are aware of our social responsibility. If we do not take it and violate the law by serving alcohol to minors on our own grounds, we may lose our permit. Our priorities are health and safety, and norms and values.”

The spokesperson says that this is a unique case. He is not aware of any other examples where student associations are advised against accepting specific individuals as members. He does, however, point to student associations that have shared posts on Instagram stating similar messages along the lines of ‘if you are underage and caught drinking alcohol or are tested positive for alcohol when queuing up to enter, you will not be accepted for membership’. It is known that at least Virgiel and DSC have done that.