Good morning. Welcome to Erasmus TV.
Student associations are coming back to life, albeit slowly.
Here with me are Jelle Mooij, Praeses of S.S.R.
On the other side of the table is Erasmus Pride Chair Fabian Lips.
Welcome. To start with you:
This was supposed to be an important and big year for Erasmus Pride.
Are you disappointed with how everything turned out?
A little bit. As you said, it was an important year.
It was so because we are becoming an official student association.
Previously, we were a network, so we didn’t really have a status on EUR.
Right now, we want to become an association.
We were starting that at the beginning of the year,
and then the lockdown and corona happened.
The notary office was closed and everything on EUR was put on hold.
So, yeah, it was a bummer.
Are you still becoming an official association this year?
I have good news. This week, officially, we’ve become an association by law.
So now it’s just a matter of getting our members and our status on EUR.
Congratulations! -Thanks.
You’re close now. Your association has existed for over 100 years.
How historical was this year for you? Was it the first time you closed ever?
These are absolutely unprecedented times.
I don’t think we’ve experienced something like this since WWII.
I also think that us closing our doors was not priority #1 for our members.
They also had to deal with a lot of uncertainties around
study progress, exams, dealing with quarantine and isolation…
Could the association help students while dealing with these difficult times?
I hope we could help them with that.
We really tried to stimulate our subassociations, called ‘disputen’,
to keep seeing each other, take care of each other, keep meeting online.
We saw some great initiatives coming from that.
Student associations opened their doors again, even if it’s just for drinks.
We made this video you can check out.
This was Rotterdamsch Studenten Gezelschap (RSG), a different club than you guys are.
You also started having drinks again. Does it look the same?
We’re not outside. We only stay inside. But it is similar.
Normally, our student life at S.S.R. revolves around a crowded bar,
standing beside fellow students and friends, and ordering drinks at the bar.
This shifted to entering the building and answering health-related questions,
washing their hands. When they enter, they are seated.
We allow a maximum of 4 per table, similar to RSG.
But it’s a complete shift from normally crowded bars.
Now, we’re more like a restaurant or a bar.
Fabian, you always had weekly drinks. Did you start again with that?
No, we haven’t started our biweekly drinks yet.
We did continue online, so we had Zoom drinks.
Last week, we had a scavenger hunt.
You had to search for different items in your own house.
It was really fun, because a lot of people are very competitive.
We were doing those kinds of activities. We have a smaller group.
It’s easier to do it online when you don’t have hundreds of members.
We are planning on starting again soon.
Eurekaweek is coming and that’s an important week for us,
because we’re starting as an association.
We need new members and visibility. Eurekaweek is amazing for that.
So, we’re planning on doing it, but we want our members to be safe.
That’s the most important thing. And then we’ll see.
Do you know how important the Zoom meetings were for your members?
You have Dutch, but also international members already, even if it’s not 100.
I think we are a special organisation and association – have to get used to that –
because we have LGBTQ students.
People can have troubles with that, at home, in their culture or in general.
We want to provide a safe space and a safe community for our members.
That’s important for us. So we want to create and have that,
a place for people to go to. That fell flat during the lockdown.
We did try to keep it online, have the chats active, have meetings…
Just make sure that you keep in touch with your members.
Next to it being fun, you also have a responsibility for LGBTQ students.
Jelle, Fabian mentioned Eurekaweek. That’s also a big week for you guys.
You normally have this big terrace out at your place. There are parties.
Partysquad comes every year. How will it look for you this year?
Eurekaweek is also for us the most important week of the year.
It’s a shame that the municipality won’t give us a permit for the terrace.
It’s annoying because it doesn’t differ from big, existing terraces.
The only real difference is we’re using public space.
All the other terraces use public space as well, right? That’s the deal.
All Rotterdam bars and restaurants can use that space now.
You’re right, so it’s really annoying that we can’t get a permit for that.
We’re up for big challenges this year.
We’re discussing with local bars in our street to borrow parking spots,
so we can arrange a small terrace, and we’re discussing with other bars
to take over their whole terrace for the week.
So we’re up for big challenges, but I’m proud of my Eurekaweek Committee.
They’re highly motivated and inventive. I’m positive that it will be a success.
You are already a big association.
You’re across a smaller, just newborn, baby association.
Can’t you help each other? You have a marketing budget.
That’s something you will struggle with this year, with Eurekaweek.
Could that be something? Is this something I’ve just arranged here?
I have a meeting this afternoon with a marketing professional,
so you can always call me. I can tell you what he told us.
Where I can help, sure, I want to help you guys. Of course.
You did make a point.
We are a small association now, with zero marketing budget.
Being there physically during Eurekaweek, and after that, Rotterdam Pride
is happening in September, which is a big week for us to be visible.
Those are the moments we have to take.
Online, there will be a lot of promotion from all the different associations.
You have to find a way to stand out.
You are both student associations, but there is a difference.
You have an initiation ritual. ‘Welcome period’, we call it now.
In Dutch, we also call it ‘ontgroening’. Will it be different from past years?
Yeah, it will be different.
We’re not allowed to stay with big groups or sleep together with big groups.
But we try to maintain the same goals. We’re really strict on that.
The programme will be different, but we try to maintain the same goals.
I want to thank you both for coming here.
Good luck with all your meetings today for the future of your associations.
Thank you all for watching. If you want to keep updated
on what’s happening at EUR and all the corona measures,
always check erasmusmagazine.nl. Thank you for watching.