LSVb and ISO chairs seek successors

LSVb chair Abdelkader Karbache and ISO chair Mylou Miché had just taken office when the four coalition parties announced a fine for students who take longer than one additional year to graduate, as well as substantial cuts to the education and research budgets. Bizarre plans, in the view of both students.

These plans turned their work upside down. "We kind of saw it coming," says Karbache. "I wanted to be on the LSVb board because I was worried about education in our country but I must admit that things were more intense than I'd expected."

Adjusting course
ISO had to adjust its course. The organisation, rooted in co-participation councils, prefers to sit at consultation tables rather than protest on the streets. Miché: ‘Protesting is not what ISO is about, but we had no choice."

Karbache lists everything under pressure in Dutch higher education: "The right to demonstrate, the right to receive education, the right to subsistence... I am happy that we can organise demonstrations with thousands of people and set up petitions signed by a hundred thousand people. We've been getting so much support from students and teachers alike. I would like to show young people that they can fight against injustice. Our secret goal was to organise a demonstration with more than 20,000 people because that was the previous record. And we succeeded at that."

But they're not just protesting. They are also talking to the Minister of Education. "Fortunately, we do get invited," says Miché. Karbache: "He can't ignore us either. If he doesn't talk to us, he will hear about it in the media."

Around the table
Doesn't it feel strange first to address a huge crowd during a demonstration against the government's plans and then sit at the same table with the minister responsible for them? Miché: "Austerity has been a big topic these past six months, but other issues were going on too and we had to achieve things for students. It is important to keep the conversation going."

She cites internship fees as an example of an issue that had to be addressed. "The minister and ISO may not always get along completely, but it is a subject we need to talk about. The minister understands that too. Take the problems students experience applying for supplementary grants when they are no longer in touch with their parents, for example. We got a chance to discuss that with the minister, so we should take that opportunity."

Kabache: "The conversations are often about student welfare and social safety, two topics on which we still need to make great strides. Sometimes we get calls from students who don't see the light at the end of the tunnel. We have even sent condolence cards to student associations because someone had taken their own life. These issues are so important that they demand us to remain at the table with this minister, despite our fundamental differences. We could refuse to talk to this cabinet out of principle. But it feels like a moral obligation to do it anyway."(Editor's Note: Are you having suicidal thoughts? Seek help at 113 or by calling 0800-0113.)

New board wanted
Both organisations are looking for a new board to take over from them. Both students would recommend joining LSVb and ISO to anyone. New board members are trained for a long time before working on their own. During that period, you can get things done but you also suddenly manage a group of employees and conduct performance reviews with them.

Miché: "I didn't think about that beforehand." Karbache: "At the same time, employees secretly care for me more than I care for them. They have become good friends of mine. After all, they are students themselves. Some of them feel less like employees and more like an extension of our board." The same happens at ISO, says Miché: "We consider ourselves a big family."

Getting the fine for "slow students" off the table was probably their biggest achievement, but Karbache likes to give credit to others: "Students, teachers and staff have been working for months signing petitions, coming to demonstrations and talking to politicians. We have mainly been the medium for their efforts."

New goals
So, what is the next dragon they want to behead? Both remind us that major cuts are still in the pipeline, so ISO and LSVb will continue to oppose them. Miché bites down on internship fees, which she believes should become mandatory. And student welfare, of course.

LSVb still hopes to stop the remaining budget cuts from happening, considering they have not yet passed the Senate. The organisation also wants to improve students' financial situation, which has been deteriorating. In his view, the promised relief for the so-called "unlucky" generation of students (who didn't get a monthly benefit from the government, being forced to take up loans instead, Ed.) is nowhere near decent or adequate. "The basic student grant should be high enough for all students to make ends meet. But we also want a rent allowance for non-self-contained flats. Housing is a big problem for students."

Perhaps the cabinet will fall and there will be new elections. If that happens, both organisations must make sure that education becomes an important issue in the campaigns, says Karbache. Miché: "But we always try to inform politicians about the interests of students, regardless of whether elections are going on."

Deadlines
If Karbache and Miché are no longer the chairs when that happens, their successors will have to do it. Those interested in serving on the LSVb board should hurry as applications are open until January 22. AtISO, the procedure runs until January 31.