What requirements must a 3D event meet? “It has to concern our community and be socially relevant. Sometimes it concerns society as a whole, sometimes specifically the campus, such as the meeting about VU’s collaboration with the Ministry of Defence. Students who took a critical stance felt that VU didn’t provide enough space for their voices. It is a core task of the university to organise dialogue and debate about such issues. And it really did become a dialogue.”
Is it true that there has been little debate lately? I mainly see events that claim to facilitate dialogue; the entire VU seems to be throwing around that term. “Dialogue is indeed very much hot and happening. It is often used as a way to include different viewpoints, but in a non-confrontational way. Recently, there have been relatively few debates. VU doesn’t have a particularly strong debate culture.”
I’ve also noticed that your events are not always well attended. Why is that? “The VU student is hard to reach. We have relatively many commuting students who travel back and forth from outside Amsterdam, and we share our city with one of the most activist universities in the Netherlands. So we’re looking at how best to market ourselves. How do we let people know an event is taking place? I may be biased, but it is a shame when few people show up because we have very interesting, relevant topics. But even when events are not well attended, it is still valuable to organise them. A university should facilitate this.”
3D stands for dialogue, debate and diversity. On your Instagram I see quite a few arts and crafts events. Which of the three D’s do those fall under? “These evenings are organised for and by students under the heading Life is better in 3D. 3D has have an afternoon and an evening programme. The afternoon consists of the more substantive, thought-provoking events, while the evenings are more socially oriented. The concept of diversity also involves inclusion. Such an evening provides a space for people who may find it difficult to find connection in lecture halls, or for students with a hobby that doesn’t have its own student organisation – like knitting.”
Are there debate centres you take as an example? “No, but maybe that will come. I haven’t been doing this for very long, and I know how I learn and how I approach things. I tend to jump in head-first and run around like a headless chicken trying to reinvent the wheel. And yes, this forces me to face myself. But that also gives me direction: what needs to change? I am currently in that phase. I had an idea for a programme and thought: I’ll sort it out – if I promote it, people will surely come. That turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. I am now working on making the promotion process more efficient and standardised, so that it doesn’t rely solely on Miranda’s network [project manager of 3D, Ed.].”
Does your Philosophy degree come in handy? “Philosophers usually tend to say that their degree is relevant to everything. But I am starting to think that marketing might be an exception. What does help is that during my studies I learned to take different perspectives into account, even if they are not your own. That is definitely relevant for what we do with 3D.”
How do you approach organising events on sensitive topics with different perspectives? “We don’t really have a fixed formula; we make a decision for each event. We want to say yes as much as possible to people who want to organise things, but 3D is no one’s mouthpiece. For a dialogue or a debate, it is important that different viewpoints are present. At the same time, I don’t think you always have to include the opposing perspective if there’s a broad consensus. At an event on climate change, I’m not going to also invite someone who doesn’t believe in it.”