Like their colleagues in other student cities, Wageningen’s champions of student interests were taking part in the campaign week run by the National Union of Students (LSVb). The entrance hall of the Forum was decked out with banners and Pulse, VeSte and Rood collected petition signatures destined for The Hague. All the campaigns target the various cuts in higher education. The slow student fine and higher tuition fees for a second Master’s have already been introduced. State secretary Zijlstra also wants to scrap student grants for Master’s degrees, restrict rights to free public transport and cut down on supplementary grants.
Day of mourning
On Wednesday a delegation from the Student Council parties VeSte and Pulse will cycle from Amsterdam to the Binnenhof in The Hague to express their concerns about the reduction of student travel rights. In The Hague the students will present the collected protest signatures to the Lower House of the Dutch Parliament. The highpoint of the campaign week will be the national demonstration on Friday 23 March in Amsterdam. It will be a Day of Mourning, and black-clad students will commemorate the dreams they must now forget.