By Maheen Hasan AUC students often pride themselves on progressivism, activism, and diversity. I remember how the word “inclusivity” was ingrained in every part of my orientation week. Yet, within my first week on campus, I had started to notice the gap between the image of inclusivity and the reality of everyday interactions. Oftentimes, students…

By Charlotte Schnitger We have all fallen victim to them: crazy New Year’s resolutions that are completely forgotten when April rolls around. This far into the new year, chances are you have already abandoned your own by now. But have you ever considered that it isn’t just a lack of discipline that causes the downfall?…

By Federica Nuccetelli, Vedosi Karmarkar, and Esmée Zuiker With the approaching winter holiday comes the long-awaited time to finally put your focus on something other than Excel sheets and the Sigmund Freuds of the world. As we put our academics to rest and crawl under woollen blankets, we start longing for the perfect things to match…

By Stefania Zajdel The 2023 Formula One season was completely dominated by Red Bull and many fans hoped and prayed that 2024 would bring a change. They wanted to see more winners, more teams at the front of the field, and perhaps most importantly, a true fight for the championship. Tensions rose as they gathered…

By Natalia Cristina Martínez Roumiantseva A social media gossip account named “lol.auc.lol” will close on 30 November 2024 after receiving backlash from the AUC community due to offensive posts repeatedly published on the platform. The account permits students to submit anonymous confessions by filling out a form on the website, which then gets immediately posted…

By Pola Folwarczny and Lou Boot On 6 November, American students at AUC woke up to the news of Donald Trump’s sweeping victory in the 2024 presidential election. Disappointment, fear, anxiety, relief, numbness – a multitude of sensations flooded their systems, welcoming them into this new reality. In the aftermath of the election, some have…

Opinion Note: The following is an open letter from several of the individuals who were arrested in front of AUC during the protests that occurred from 25 to 28 March. Dear AUC community, We are writing to you as a group of students who were arrested for peacefully protesting our university’s complicity in the genocide…

By Wilma Tynkkynen and Deirdre de Leeuw den Bouter A new academic calendar is being piloted for the 2023-2024 school year. In contrast to previous years, the calendar includes three additional class-free weeks and increased class length, from one and a half hours to one hour and 45 minutes. The additional class-free weeks are a…

By Younes Saramifar Opinion The Death of Critical Thinking The onslaught of inhumanities and systematic killing of Palestinians has exposed the hypocrisy embedded in some of Global North higher education institutions once again. They seemingly strive for values like academic freedom, social justice, diversity and excellence, and critical thinking. However, their commitments to these values…

By Lila Burkle Collage by Nieka van Lieshout Amsterdam University College is a potential exception from the proposed Dutch government policy that could significantly impact international students and programs across the Netherlands. The recent policy, which calls universities to suspend active international recruitment, sparked significant nation-wide opposition within the university community. However, AUC’s management, including…

By Pola Folwarczny and Kama Wojtuszko Collage by Sabine Besson It’s late November, maybe early December. Last Christmas is blasting from your neighbour’s speakers, bright lights are flickering all over the city and the smell of oliebollen follows your every step. Regardless of whether you celebrate Christmas or not, you cannot escape that picture. But…

By Lou Boot, Violet Domínguez, and Ben Kiem Please note: While this article is meant to highlight the emotions students feel at this moment, this is not an accurate representation of all affected. The scope is restricted to students who chose to share their experiences with us, and as such, it lacks the perspective of any…

By Lisa Jesudas and Kama Wojtuszko All throughout the summer holidays of this past year, the AUC Class of 2023 Whatsapp group chat bustled with discussion over issues with obtaining their vital statements of graduation and AUC diplomas. For Mirthe van Veen, the stress was enough to consider taking legal action against AUC as she…