This is the fourth year that Groep-één collected complaints with their Complain Train, party member Hieke Heesch tells us. “We actively approach students with the question ‘Do you have any complaints’, which always works very well,” she says with a laugh. “You get much better results compared to online questionnaires, because you’re physically present and can ask further questions to clarify a complaint.” Last week, they were at three different places on campus: on Monday outside Spar, on Wednesday in Atlas, and on Friday in MetaForum.

Cafeteria number one again

In total, about 75 complaints were collected last week. Most of them concerned the food offerings on campus. “There’s so much vegan food at the cafeterias, but not that many people are actually vegan. I can never find a sandwich containing meat,” says a student who’s just put up his complaint. Another student is especially frustrated about the prices: “Spar is really much too expensive, we’re only students!” Heesch indicates that they’ve received complaints about the food from the very start of the initiative.

In addition to food-related complaints, many also came in about limited access and opening times with respect to buildings; this was especially a problem for students during exam weeks. “Some buildings, like Atlas, do stay open longer now for students who have their department there. But that doesn’t solve the entire problem,” says Heesch. There were also frequent complaints about the low temperatures in classrooms and the library, noise nuisance in several study spaces, and a shortage of bicycle storage facilities on campus.

What will happen with my complaint?

“First, we divide all of the complaints up into themes, and see which ones are the most frequent. This allows us to present the complaints to the respective committees in the University Council in an orderly manner, to see what they can do with them,” Heesch explains.

In the past, this has been successful on several occasions, she says. For example, during the previous edition of the Complain Train there were complaints about the lack of free menstrual products on campus. “We got to work on this and now you can get these products for free at every reception desk.”

All in all, it would appear complaining pays off. It’s for this very reason that the Complain Train regularly makes an appearance, every quarter to be exact (and next month a special edition will take place at the three new Haven residential towers). If you missed the Train this time but do have a complaint, feel free to send an email to groep-een@tue.nl.