Where Tragos typically welcomed around 85 new members in recent years, this year’s total reached 109. The student association has stepped up its recruitment efforts, says newly appointed chair Veerle Kiefer. “We organised more activities, including smaller ones like shared meals, and focused more on one-to-one contact. It’s been effective.”
At Circumflex, the number of new members remained stable at 98 – just two fewer than last year. Chair Jasper Gielen is pleased: “We were a bit anxious about whether we’d be visible enough to new students.” Both associations were absent from this year’s INKOM fairs and parties, which are usually the main opportunity to catch new students’ attention.
Their absence was due to the university suspending all ties with both associations earlier this year after several incidents during activities for new members, including “cases of fainting, exhaustion and a panic attack”. Both Tragos and Circumflex claimed they were unaware of these incidents.
As an alternative, they organised their own introduction week together, mostly consisting of parties at their own clubhouses. Both chairs say the turnout felt comparable to previous years, when they ran a similar programme alongside INKOM.
Gielen is under the impression that the university’s announcement earlier this year had little impact on students approaching Circumflex. “We received hardly any questions about it.” Kiefer was asked to “clear up the situation” a few times, “but we were able to reassure everyone. I don’t feel like it discouraged students from signing up.”
Neither Tragos nor Circumflex is Maastricht’s most popular student association. That distinction belongs to student rowing club Saurus, which has consistently attracted the most new members for years. This year, Saurus welcomed 120 new members – down from 135 last year, but still the largest increase among the city’s four biggest associations. Student association KoKo comes in last with 86 new members so far (the sign up period here lasts a few more days), up from 77 last year.