During the University Council elections, held between 10 and 18 May, 6.5 per cent of all EUR students cast a vote, down from 10.5 per cent in 2020. It was the lowest turnout ever. Normally it is between 10 and 12 per cent. Erasmus University has long been reputed to have ‘uneventful’ elections; all other universities in the Netherlands have a higher voter turnout.
Many new faces
Nevertheless, some people will be happy with the way the votes were cast. Two current councillors, Bram Heesen and Jasper Klasen, were re-elected. Zohra Hayat returned to the Council after a two-year absence. After the summer, the Council will have many new members: Cagla Altin, Friso Roos, Patryk Jarmakowicz, Pi Cheng Hu, Robbert Rog, Sandra Constantinou, Simo Azzarhouni, Timo Zandvliet and Zahra Rana. The number of women on the Council will double from two to four.
The staff representatives on the Council are elected by their respective faculties. Only the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) and the Erasmus School of Philosophy had enough candidates to warrant elections. At ESE, current councillor Albert Wagelmans defeated his only opponent, Amar Soebhag. In the philosophers’ elections, Tim de Mey was defeated by Max Wagenaar. Bianca Jadoenath (ISS), John van Wel and Sebastiaan Kamp (ABD/UB/PRO) and Natascha Kraal (Erasmus MC) will remain on the Council. Emese von Bóné (ESL) will return to the Council after an absence. Ed Hulst (ESHPM), Georgina Carp (RSM), Nikita Schoemaker and Irena Boskovic (both ESSB) and Aleid Fokkema (ESHCC) have been newly elected to the Council.
Recommendations
The University Council is made up of twelve students and twelve members of staff, who issue solicited and unsolicited recommendations to EUR’s Executive Board on all sorts of policy matters and have a right of consent regarding major changes to the budget, among other things. Students are elected to the Council for a one-year term, whereas members of staff are elected for a two-year term.
