Aspiring columnists don't shy away from big topics

When one reads the columns submitted to this year's campus columnist contest, it is clear we're going through turbulent times. The contestants did not shy away from big topics such as polarisation in the Netherlands. “How come I know someone who voted for Geert Wilders?” was a recurring question. The aspiring columnists also observed that people are spending too much time in their bubbles and that we should engage in conversations with others more often. “Dare to be vulnerable, let's dare to do it together” is how one of the columns ends.

Other recurring themes were ChatGPT, the housing shortage, and loneliness. The latter was particularly popular among international students. “Making friends at university isn’t as easy as it seems. Everyone has their groups and habits. How do you become a part of that?” asks one of them. Others wrote about their fear of not clicking with others as a newcomer in the city. But, once they’re sitting in class, connections do happen all of a sudden. 

“What stood out for me was how engaged with societal topics the contestants are and how they’re looking for solutions to those issues, although that sometimes results in a rather pedantic tone that you’d rather not read in columns”, says a member of the panel. 

Today, DUB is publishing the best one of the two columns submitted by each finalist. A total of thirty people submitted two columns each to the contest, of whom twenty wrote in Dutch and ten wrote in English. The panel has shortlisted three columns in Dutch and three columns in English.

The winners will be announced on January 24 at DUB’s New Year’s reception. Both winners will receive the Erik Hardeman stipend, worth 1,000 euros, and will publish a column every three weeks on DUB in 2024.

The three Dutch finalists
The vast majority of columns in the Dutch language were submitted by students.

Sara Niknam is the first nominee in this category. She's been studying Physics and Liberal Arts & Sciences at UU since 2020. After her Bachelor’s, she intends to pursue a Master's degree in Climate Physics. In her column De kwetsbare positie van de verticaal beperkte student (The vulnerable position of the vertically impaired student, Ed.) she playfully draws attention to diversity and inclusion policy from the perspective of a vertically impaired student.

The second nominee in the Dutch category is Ize van Gils. She studies Language & Culture and lives in Breda. In her column Jij komt er niet meer in! (You won’t get in anymore!, Ed.), she vividly describes a conflict in the lecture hall. The professor had made it clear that being late was not an option in his class but students managed to stage a revolt and make the professor sweat.

Emma Ravenhorst is the third finalist running for a position on the Dutch website. She attended University College Utrecht (UCU) for the past three years and she also studied Law. Currently, she’s doing an exchange at the University of Cambridge. Her column, Het jaar van ChatGPT (The Year of Chat GPT, Ed.) talks about an e-mail she received from the faculty saying that students were not allowed to use ChatGPT in their written assignments. Emma then wonders if ChatGPT even works and what it means for her future career as a lawyer. 

The three English finalists
This year, many of the submissions written in English were sent by employees, which is reflected in the list of finalists.

John Tang is a professor in the Department of History & Art History. His work focuses on the economic history of Japan from the 19th century onward. In his nominated column, How nerve-wracking an oral exam can be, he writes about the difficult aspects of an oral exam, both from the perspective of the student and of the teacher. 

The second nominee for the English page is Monica van de Ridder. She has Dutch roots and works as an educationist at the Faculty of Social Sciences. Up until recently, she was living and working in the United States, where she decided to participate in our competition. In her column, titled Loneliness, she describes how sceptic she was when she attended a lunch organised by the Utrecht Science Park Inclusive Network on the occasion of the National Week Against Loneliness. Was her scepticism justified?

Iren Şerbetcioğlu studies at University College Utrecht. Her submission, titled How Leaving My Country Made Me A Patriot, earned her a spot among the finalists. Iren, who was born in Turkey, writes about how coming to the Netherlands has caused her to perceive her own culture differently and realise that it influences her more than she assumed.

The panel
This year, the panel consisted of the Early-Modern Dutch Literature Professor Els Stronks, UU’s social media strategist Nazgol Salamat, Master student in Sociology and city councillor Annemarijn Oudejans, and DUB’s editor-in-chief Ries Agterberg. All participants had to submit two columns, which were shown to the panel anonymously. The panel members were then tasked with choosing the best submissions in each category.