Located on the fifth floor of the Carré building and reached by a quick lift ride, the borrelkelder - called TAP - is busy during the reopening. The room itself is packed with people, mostly students but also a few employees. Noah van Dijk, Chairman of Arago (Applied Physics), explains why the reopening is noteworthy. ‘This room belongs to three study associations, everything that happens here is some sort of cohesion event and we haven’t been able to do that for two years.’
Although there was a period during the Covid-crisis when associations were allowed to open their drinking rooms, TAP had to remain closed because ‘we didn’t have proper ventilation’. The three associations lost a ‘very significant part of social cohesion’ and this evening ‘marks the beginning of associations being able to connect with each other again.’ The associations’ members are most certainly eager to return to the room, as ‘the ventilation was finished an hour ago’. However, van Dijk continues, it was a ‘big struggle to get this on the university’s radar, until we got the attention of Campus & Facility Management when it was fixed fast.’
‘Our beloved association room’
Now that the struggle is over, van Dijk is ‘relieved that the work to do it is over’. He adds that the effort to get the room reopened cannot be put all at the feet of the board, and would ‘like to thank the faculty board’, along with Ivo Bijker from CFM and Bertus Dierink from the TNW faculty, two people who ‘helped push problems up the university ladder’. In conclusion, he is ‘happy that all the students can enjoy one another’s company in our beloved association room again.’
