Danyal Haider, third-year Bachelor's student of Electrical Engineering and council member for Groep-één for the past five months, said on Monday afternoon after the meeting that he was happy with the support provided by interpreter Steven Ralston. Ralston works at the Education and Student Service Center (STU). "As an English speaker, I haven't been able to follow the discussion at this meeting. Until today, that is, with the help of an interpreter. Now I'm managing well," said Haider.

Trees Klaver, chairwoman of the University Council, explains how the arrangement came about, "Some members of the University Council, among them Danyal, and I sat down to work out how someone could reasonably be enabled to function capably on the council despite having no command of the Dutch language. At the meeting it emerged that the help of an interpreter would be very welcome at the Council meetings. In a more informal setting, language is generally less of a problem because those present often speak in English, certainly when addressing Danyal."

Klaver says it has been agreed that the interpreter will also attend the next meeting on June 13. "After that we will evaluate how successful this approach has been," says Klaver. "If the findings are positive, we intend to continue in this way. Happily, TU/e is able to provide its own interpreter. This is because Steven Ralston works at STU and they can let us use his expertise under the current agreements governing internal services."