The UCSA Power Trip by Boele Loonstra

The Boomerang Winter edition has finally arrived, and that means we’re swiftly moving towards the end of the first semester of 2025/26. A great moment to look back and reflect! Although a lot has happened in the past months, one thing mainly caught my, among many others’, attention. There seems to be a significant mismatch between campus’s perception of the UCSA and their own. This creates distance between them and the other students.

Let me start by emphasizing that UCSA deserves real appreciation from everyone on campus. They are the people who represent us, take care of many problems the spoiled UCU kids don’t want to think about, and make some of the most important decisions. This is precisely why a good relationship between UCSA and the other students is so central to campus life. It benefits the whole community, but requires attention from both sides. This article is thus not intended to attack the UCSA board personally, but rather to assess the disconnect and find ways to resolve it.

This distance seems to, in great part, originate from the sense of power the UCSA board has gained since being appointed. Obviously, holding a position with power in a community you’re part of every day makes you feel important. This becomes an issue, however, when a board’s members start placing themselves above other students. In theory, this still doesn’t have to be a major problem in itself; it can just be something that makes you more confident, which is fine, as long as you treat others as equals. But the actual problem lies in the practical. The overconfidence of UCSA has led to them addressing both themselves and other students differently. 

Obviously holding a position of power in a community you're a part of every day makes you feel important. This becomes an issue however, when a board's members start placing themselves above other students.

If we start with just committees, the whole reason we actually need UCSA, the way they are treated is often quite disrespectful. This begins with just the tone in texts and emails being passive-aggressive, and even texts containing sentences like “I’m doing you a favour by doing this now, because, as you might know, I have meetings all day right now.” It would be good to acknowledge that the committees are also very busy on their own; it is not just UCSA doing work for them.

The fact that I don’t have to write this article about the two other student bodies, UCSC and CAR, says a lot. Even though they are as important as UCSA, if not more, they have not created the same distance from the students. However, UCSA doesn’t seem to recognize the efforts that they put into campus.

Socially, the UCSA board members also seem to have distanced themselves from the other students in some ways, for instance, being openly disdainful towards fraternities, being overly serious in normal situations, or, conversely, acting like they are suddenly friends with everyone. It seems like they have difficulties separating their role as UCSA from being a normal student like everyone else.

Maybe the UCSA has ended up in a paradox. They want to be recognized and appreciated so much that they refuse to act as normal students. They remain in their elevated role, hoping that in this way, everyone will recognise their importance to the campus. However, this only alienates them from campus and results in less appreciation. 

This is not inevitable. Small shifts, like being more respectful and recognizing the work others put into campus and committees, can already reduce the distance. The campus is a small community made up of students who are all, in one way or another, in the same situation. Sometimes, treating it as a community without hierarchy might turn out great.

Luckily, this has already been proven by UCSA itself! There have been plenty of situations in which the distance dissolved, at least for a bit. Just recently, UCSA organized the Constitutional Borrel. Even though this evening basically revolved around UCSA, they were, in my experience, nice and chill (maybe because of the tens of shots they took). It gave me some hope that they can, in fact, interact with others just as students.

I am convinced that, if UCSA humbles up a bit and its members can seperate their social and student life from their role, this will benefit the whole campus.

Furthermore, they wrote short speeches in which they showed their appreciation for each of the committees. This form of valuing the committees’ work is what makes them more appreciative and cooperative, too. There was finally some recognition for the joint effort that everyone makes. Sometimes, this recognition is also shown in normal cooperating or social situations. It sounds trivial, but it is already great when an UCSA member adds a sentence to their email like “I’m impressed by your work,” or “Thank you for your effort.” These are easy ways to stimulate cooperation and be appreciated.

I am convinced that, if UCSA humbles up a bit and its members can separate their social and student life from their role, this will benefit the whole campus: the other students, the committees, but mostly themselves. From that point on, it’s up to the rest of campus to reevaluate and seek connection and cooperation with UCSA. Then, campus will be even more of a unified community.