The Centre for European Studies of the faculty BBT will be holding its first CES-café: a political café where students and staff can debate international subjects. The CES hereby hopes to increase the social cohesion among BBT-students, endangered since the move off campus to the Capitool.
Jaap de Wilde, university lecturer at BSK and professor at the VU Amsterdam explains that the idea is a consequence of the fire in the TWRC-building. De Wilde:
'In the TW-building contact with students was very easy and - especially important to them - we were easily accessible. If you were there for a lecture, or a cup of soup in the canteen, you could knock on the door of a teacher. Now you have to cycle to the Capitool and be sure you have an appointment. Students, also, only meet if they happen to have the same lecture, as these are given spread all over campus. Something has to be done for the social cohesion of the students.'
De Wilde is also thinking of the students who are participating in the double diploma programme Europe Across Borders. 'This year we have admitted 20 master's students with bachelor's degrees from elsewhere. These students hail, amongst others, from Turkey, France, and Latvia. What do they have to tell us? Because of this new forum we can talk to each other and they can make new contacts.'
The first CES café takes place on Wednesday 8 October in the Vrijhof at 16.30 hr, and has as its theme: 'Fighting for Peace? A transatlantic clash of international law and power politics.'
