This year’s introduction week for new students slipped by me a bit. Sadly, I missed the Markt opening show, the sports event and the cultural activities, including a visit to the Bonnefanten Museum. My former colleague and I were too busy teaching our summer school course on Journalism and Effective Writing. It was great fun; all the spots were filled this year, and the participants’ enthusiasm was heartwarming as always.
Lifelong friend
Fortunately, the rest of the team was able to go out during the INKOM to write snapshots of the new arrivals, among other things. What struck me was that most first years had either lost or left their mentor group on the very first day. I did the same thing during the introduction week at my alma mater, Radboud University Nijmegen. It was the eighties, and I had no interest in silly icebreakers; I much preferred to head to the pub with my new (now lifelong) friend.
During our Monday morning meeting, we wondered whether this – mentor groups falling apart – was something worth writing about or just something that happens. After a bit of asking around, we found it was the latter. When registering for the INKOM, first-year students are asked about their interests (culture, socialising or sports) and placed with like-minded peers. But first years are only human. Inevitably, some will drift off to hang out with old school friends, new housemates or other people they already know. In short, there’s nothing to worry about.
Russia
One of the first years we interviewed for our website is from Russia. We didn’t ask him any questions about the war in Ukraine (where were you when it broke out? What are your thoughts on the war, on Putin? Are you afraid of being called up for military service? Have you been targeted for being Russian in the Netherlands?), which led to a heated discussion on Monday morning. “We should’ve asked”, one of us insisted. “You can’t just ignore the war. You’d ask someone from Ukraine about it. The same goes for people from Israel, Palestine, Sudan – any current conflict areas.” But, someone else argued, “we’re talking about a brief snapshot of a first-year student: what will you be studying, why did you choose UM, was it easy to find a room… Is it really necessary to confront them with questions about the war and Putin at that moment?” A valid point, most of us agreed. Myself included. But over the course of the discussion, we gradually concluded that we shouldn’t leave these matters unaddressed.
We quickly agreed
And what if the interviewee doesn’t want to talk about the war? On that, we quickly agreed: you ask them why not and write down the answer.