Headlines

Last Tuesday's United States presidential elections certainlydid not pass unnoticed among Utrecht students. The studentcommittee for American Studies spent the whole night in 'DePotdeksel' bar watching the spectacle live on wide-screen TV.Professors and alumni were also present to comment on howcandidates Al Gore and George W. Bush were doing. The politicalnight lasted until the result was declared, and a littlebeyond.

Fire traps

The tenants at Maliesingel 49bis can stay where they are for thetime being. The city authorities had previously ordered three ofthe eight students to vacate their part of the building before 7November, after their apartments were branded an 'extreme firehazard'. At the very last moment, the house superintendent managedto get this softened to 'only' fire hazard. The stay of executioncame because the Bilthoven landlord had gone to court to request asuspension of the municipal decision. He claimed to be on the vergeof having a fire escape erected, on Monday 6 November, and to havemedium-term plans to replace all the flammable materials in thewalls with plaster. The municipality accepted the landlord's plansbefore the court could hear the case. The Maliesingel property isone of more than a hundred student houses inspected by the firedepartment after a number of fires last year.

Success

If you do well in your first exam, the rest of your degree willbe a breeze. That is, if you are a student of Psychology atAmsterdam University. The first grade you get is the best predictorof academic success. This is shown by research carried out byLeiden and Amsterdam psychologists among 409 psychology students inAmsterdam. The study of academic performance included the classesof 1993 through 1995.

Stelling

On November 20. the Utrecht filmmaker Jos Stelling will bepresent in 'De Uitwijk' the cultural club of de university todiscuss his work with students. Stelling was director of, forexample, the films 'De Illusionist', 'No Trains No Planes', 'TheGas Station' and 'The flying Dutchman'. Next week, these films canalso be seen. Information: http://www.uitwijk.uu.nl