The VUB is fond of us, although that doesn’t always go so well with our image

“I am a student in adult educational sciences and I am very active in the board for SWAMP as praeses, or better yet senior since I am not baptised in a student society It makes for a big difference for the older people at the VUB and according to its folklore. I am at the VUB more for my fraternity than for my classes. Being on campus is, aside from my classes, practical for my fraternity. I mostly hang around in the G-building where SWAMP holds its activities. Although we have a room for our fraternity, we have to share it with three other fraternities, which is a shame. Besides that, I also use the sportmix and go with many SWAMP members to attend fencing classes. Only one person in that class is not a SWAMP member.

Organising activities is all in all okay because of the busy semester calendar that we put together, though the logistics are a little lacking. We cannot secure rooms for the whole academic year anymore, but having contacts within Infradesk is very handy. Punctuality and asking in advance is always a must, even though timing is not my strong suit.

The VUB is fond of us, but that does not always go so well with our image. They like that our baptism is not filthy and that we are pretty clean in general, which means we get access to rooms and events pretty easily. Articles have been written about us, but we do not want to become the VUB’s pet. We have a very niche folklore since the content of it is a parody. We are coming out of a period where existing with SWAMP was difficult, but this is taking a turn for the better now. We got extra funds from the VUB, unlike other fraternities, which can lead to some friction. We see ourselves as non-conforming and the VUB uses us for advertisement, which does not agree with our ideals.”

On the occasion of the VUB’s 50th anniversary, prof. dr. Martina Temmerman asked the students in her introductory course on journalism genres to make portraits of people on the VUB campus. The ‘snapshots’ resulting from the project Humans of the VUB offer a lovely cross section of life on our university campus in 2019/20.