But it all went pear-shaped. Pulse (a merger of the PSF party and student union WSO) could not drum up any candidates at all. The council is now filled with VeSte candidates plus one independent member. No elections once again then. A pity. But does it mean that the council’s sex appeal has dwindled again? Or are students more interested in serving a year on a board? Wageningen students continue to be very involved in their university and student life is flourishing. Student recruitment has risen spectacularly over recent years, so the pool of potential board members is large. A quick tour of the larger societies suggests that they are not having any problems getting board members. VeSte is doing fine too and managed to recruit all 11 members in spite of the looming slow students fine. It is Pulse that has a problem then, but it would not be fair to come down too hard on the party, which has a tough year behind it. It inherited a mess from PSF when the current board took over. And the merger with the comatose WSO did not make things any easier. The newly formed Pulse chose to focus first on breathing new life into the union. Then it hopes its good name and organization will lead to more enthusiasm among potential candidates next year. For the student council’s sake, let us hope this works. Elections are the big moment when parties can make a name for themselves, so that chance has gone by. Hiding your light under a bushel won’t get you anywhere. And it wouldn’t be a bad thing to have a range of views represented in the student council. So it is high time Pulse put its house in order. Otherwise there will be no choice for years.
No choice
It never used to be sexy to be on the student council. The various parties often had difficulty finding even one more candidate than there were places, so there was no need to hold elections. In the last few years the council seemed to become more popular and there were a few candidates to choose…