Fall Marap and Second Supplementary and Amending Memorandum
The university is financially performing better than budgeted, going more or less cost-neutral instead of the budgeted 6 million loss. We were critical about the not allocating of work-pressure relieving funds. Therefore, we only gave positive advice on the Second Supplementary and Amending Memorandum on the condition that the Executive Board provides a good explanation on why they do not think using these funds will be effective. We gave positive advice on the Marap
Evaluation of the Ombudsperson
We were given a report on the functioning of the Ombudsperson, a person that is supposed to monitor and address problems with social safety in the university. The report gave a lot of recommendations, which will be evaluated by the EB.
Scope and Roadmap Strategic Plan
The EB explained in this document what the Strategic Plan is going to look like and how we will be involved. We are happy about the way the University Council is going to be involved, but are critical about the lack of involvement of students besides the University Council. Therefore, we will monitor the involvement of students strictly in this process.
Memo: “Menstrual Products Expension”
On behalf of the whole Council, we submitted a memo outlining the plan on expansion of the free menstrual products dispensers.
Under the current setup, the dispensers are restricted to only three locations on campus (Academia, Library, Olympia). This forces students in need to walk long distances across campus during short class transitions, causing missed lectures and stress.
In coordination with the Facility Services, we proposed to implement a campus-wide pilot project by installing dispensers across all 15 remaining campus buildings. Facility Services outlined total annual costs and prepared the project overview. During the period of the pilot, usage data per location will be collected, and after the pilot, high-traffic locations will retain or expand dispensers, while low-usage locations can be reassessed to balance student needs with budget constraints.
Letter: “Optimising the Housing Office”
We submitted a letter regarding the structure and visibility of the university’s Housing Office.
Under the Covenant Studentenhuisvesting Tilburg 2025-2030, the university shall guide and inform students on housing rights and other relevant support services. However, the Housing Office faces capacity constraints. Additionally, campus visibility is low; a survey of 266 students revealed that 209 had never heard of the department.
In the letter, we raised concerns on this topic and recommended evaluation of structural adjustments to improve workflow.
We are already in close contact with the office and we are going to work together to optimise their visibility.
