Political science student Noah Pellikaan is new UvA student council president
After the student council elections two months ago, the new board of the Central Student Council (CSR) was elected last week. Political science student Noah Pellikaan will be CSR president next academic year. What plans does he have? “I want to see a university where the unelected board positions are pushed aside and much more emphasis is placed on participation councils.”
The new CSR president wants to chart a new course for co-determination. Far too many students and student parties are only active for elections during the period surrounding student council elections; the Activist Party wants to keep going strong throughout the year. That attitude has helped the party, which gained quite a few new seats, including two direct seats in the CSR, in last May’s student council elections. The Activist Party also delivered the CSR its new president, Noah Pellikaan. He wants to breathe new life into the somewhat dull participation atmosphere at the UvA. And not only that. “We want to bring about change both inside and outside the UvA.”
Congratulations, Noah! Tell us, what did you and the Activist Party do to get to this point?
“Our party’s greatest strength and influence comes from the fact that we don’t follow the principle of ‘business as usual.’ We are not only active in the short period around election time, but all year round, because being a political party is only one aspect of what we want to do as activists. As a community of students, we are trying to bring about change both inside and outside the UvA by collaborating with other student advocacy organizations, such as student unions and the Amsterdam Autonomous Coalition. We regularly organize events and meet to discuss our priorities. The members of the Activist Party UvA are usually also very active in the faculty-student councils. We do our job and we do it well. We are always eager to get more involved in UvA issues that matter. We know what we want and what we’re talking about and so we win elections. On merit.”
What is “wrong” with the co-determination culture at UvA so that we need an activist student party?
“First, there is always a need for activist influence. Democracy is ‘collective deliberation, based on full and equal participation,’ to quote American anthropologist and activist David Graeber. As such, dissent is a prerequisite for democracy. This applies not only to dissent within the institution (which, by the way, is often accompanied by a culture of judgment) but also to broader, extra-parliamentary opinions, which are just as crucial to our democracy.”
“Second, the problem of the culture of co-determination in Dutch higher education extends far beyond the UvA. With the dissolution of the University Council in the late 1990s, co-determination was diluted. This is reflected in the low turnout in co-determination elections and the lack of awareness that co-determination bodies even exist. This applies to both the works council and student council. Look at the Joint Services Enterprise Council (GOR), where seven of 15 seats are unoccupied, and the Humanities Faculty Student Council has three unoccupied seats. At the science faculty and at the medical school we see the same thing.”
What do you want to accomplish in the coming year?
“The overarching change I am striving for is ‘democratization.’ I want to see a university where unelected board positions are cast aside and much more emphasis is placed on co-determination boards. Staff and students, the people to whom the university is accountable and who are the foundation of the university, should have self-determination over academic policy, and that is what I strive for. There are, of course, a number of other goals to achieve, such as a central mental health policy, reflection rooms, free menstrual products, and gender-neutral toilets throughout the university. There also needs to be a democratically decided vision for teaching and study success, transparency about partnerships with third parties, et cetera. I will fight for a democratic university where we all have a real say.”
I read that the Activist Party wants to “make some noise“ at the UvA next year. What do you mean by that and what can we expect?
“This could mean a couple of things as far as I’m concerned. First, don’t expect the CSR to work on its own. Where possible, we will cooperate with Asva, the National Union of Students (LSVb), the National Consultation Fractions (LOF) and ISO, but also with the Central Works Council (COR), the GOR, the faculty-student councils, Rethink UvA, Casual UvA, and groups outside the institution such as the association of Muslim students Musa, UvA Rebellion, and Amsterdam United. But making noise goes beyond cooperating with a few groups fighting for the same cause, it also means continuing our activist efforts. We are rebels with a purpose. Our activism will include mutual aid, direct action, protest, and, if necessary, occupation. Our roots will always be in external activism and we have no intention of deviating from leftist activist ideology. This includes continuing our vegan meals in ‘counter-cultural’ spaces, clothing swaps, and much more. The changes we are pursuing may be met with much resistance within the UvA, but we will make our voices heard through all possible non-violent means.”
The CSR has always been fairly mainstream. That was also one of the reasons why they were able to work well with the Executive Board. Aren’t you afraid that cooperation with the UvA administration will be difficult with your activist views?
“This question represents a false dichotomy because you are suggesting that good cooperation with the board is the means to get things done, or that change can come from our limited amount of advisory rights that can end up being completely ignored by the board. This question also assumes that co-determination has always been mainstream. In the years leading up to the 2015 Maagdenhuis occupation, the CSR was a much more leftist and activist body and showed its strength for change during the proposed beta merger with VU in 2013. In fact, it is only in recent years that the CSR has been seen as a passive and mainstream body, as a ‘part of’ rather than a ‘push against’ the status quo. Our party has already done a lot in the past year to counter that, but we still have the reputation of being a passive body. Cooperation with the UvA administration is not our end goal, and certainly not the means to achieve systematic change. I myself have already worked at different levels of UvA employee participation. I know the Executive Board and they know me. We know that we often work at odds and know where the other person stands on certain issues, but this in no way creates a sense of hostility or inefficiency in our negotiation process.”
