The board of Groep-één came up with a special way to gather input from a broad group of students. By erecting a temporary “complaint wall” in a room that many students make use of, board member Iris Troost, among others, hopes to gain input in order to decide what Groep-één is going to focus on. Before long, there were note papers on the wall about lack of space and the price and quality of the canteen’s food.

Isidoros Kotinis, University Council member for Groep-één, enjoyed having a chat with the people who wrote something down during the lunch break on Monday. For example, he learned that two Industrial Design students are disappointed that there are no interdisciplinary groups for projects in their master’s program.

Internship allowance

Tim Burger, master’s student of Applied Physics (see main photo) just put up a note. The Nuclear Fusion student is calling for adequate compensation for the internship he hopes to start soon. Fieke Rijke, a particularly frustrated student who studies elsewhere (Tilburg, ed.), has a general complaint. “I think universities are not doing enough to help the bad-luck generation. I have student debts and now, suddenly, I have to pay interest on them. I didn’t know that when I started my studies four years ago.”

A slightly younger IE&IS student, who happened to walk through the Atlas building, especially misses on-campus lectures. “I hate the fact that Industrial Engineering doesn’t offer those”, says Eva Maria de Nooij. “I need social contact; I’m in my second year of study and I hardly know anyone. I emailed program director Tom van Woensel about this. His response was that I can also get social contacts through other forms of learning. I disagree. Besides, it takes a lot of discipline to watch lectures in your room all by yourself; plus, you can’t ask any questions.” She hopes that Groep-één can do something about this.

The Complain Train will remain available all week. The complaints will be taken down and archived every now and then. Groep-één plans to use the complaint wall again next academic year.