Independent journalism about VU Amsterdam | Since 1953
22 December 2024
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Science & Education 8 March 2024

Name five female scientists, go!

In honor of International Women’s Day, Ad Valvas’ student reporter and PPE student Katharina Graf shines a light on female researchers that were robbed of their scientific recognition.
Column & Blog 5 March 2024

Adventures in digital parenting

There’s a picture on my father-in-law’s Facebook profile. It features my body, covered by a paper gown, my tiny son Luca, naked except a diaper and a knitted hat, and the smiling face of my partner. It is a snapshot…
Column & Blog 5 March 2024

On their own merit

Stepping into university life as a first-generation student brings both excitement and challenges. It’s a delicate balancing act, managing academic pressures, personal expectations, and the persistent fear of not measuring up in a terrain where each step seems fraught with…
Column & Blog 8 February 2024

Tattoo memory

One of my earliest memories of Morocco concerns my great-aunt Fatima. I must have been aged four or five, but I can still see her fragile, wrinkly face as she stood in front of my sister and me in the…
Column & Blog 29 January 2024

‘Generation of Misfortune’

The term Generation of Misfortune refers to the majority of current students (including myself) who studied between 2015 and 2023 and were under the student loan system. Many consider us part of this so-called Generation of Misfortune. Personally, I believe…
Column & Blog 19 December 2023

The importance of free discussion on-campus

Last year, in the Netherlands, strong, organised student protests led to the government reforming the student loan system to a version of pre-2015. To this day, regular protests regarding housing are held frequently to draw attention to the ongoing housing…
Column & Blog 27 November 2023

Keep on supporting the underdog

I dropped out of my first study. Admitting this perhaps doesn’t instill confidence in my abilities, though I would say otherwise. Progressing in spite of adversity is a feat that I am proud to have achieved. So just how did…
Column & Blog 20 November 2023

Let’s watch a Woody Allen movie

For me, filmmaker Woody Allen is one of the few who wonderfully merges the light-hearted and the heavy side of life. His witty characters, often a projection of Allen himself, are always searching for something in life. What am I…
Column & Blog 11 November 2023

Explore who you are

I was never the easiest student to teach. I was always off doing something other than my homework. I was hardly ever present in my Latin classes for example. And in one of the rare occasions where I was present…