TIME FOR CHANGE,VOTE KSV-KJO

By KSV-KJO

The forthcoming election of the Student Union Board presents a unique opportunity at CEU. Up until now, the Board has been selected through an independent student list – uncontested and unopposed. This has often meant that the Union has not been able to deliver on matters of importance to students. This year, we are presenting our own list with the KSV-KJO. With our list we want to propose radical changes for the students at CEU. We want to truly represent students’ interests before the administration. We want to advocate for better working, studying, and living conditions for all students. We want to stand up for our freedom to protest and express ourselves on campus. Here you get a chance to hear our proposals from us, and how your vote can matter to change the scene of student political engagement at CEU. We would like to stress that the Student Union at the CEU exists to represent the interests of the student body. For us, this aspect is the core of our campaign. We understand that students’ concerns at every level are distinct, but there are common concerns which fall within the purview of the Student Union. The concerns plaguing the BA, MA, and PhD programs are to be addressed in a complementary manner. As an example, PhDs and MAs should be offered more opportunities to be a part of the undergraduate program. The lack of adequate stipends, PhD students working on self-employed contracts, and BA and MA students suffering from a lack of options in their elective courses are all common issues. The student body is a collective, and any attempt to divide these issues goes against student interest. We seek to make the Student Union an active advocate and participant in all such examples. We pledge to advocate for full employment and work contracts for PhD students, better grants and stipends for MAs, and better course options for BAs. In addition, the lack of accessible public spaces in the University campus has been discussed at length, and yet complaints about the use of kitchen space come up frequently. We unequivocally believe that the kitchen is a common space and cannot be reserved for certain sections of the community. We plan to bring this point to the administration and find ways the Union can contribute to these shared spaces. Another common issue shared by all students at CEU is the costs of living in Vienna. We have seen inflation rising in Austria these past few years while our stipends and grants remained the same. While our ultimate goal is to improve students’ financial situation, we also have proposals for the Student Union to take some of the burden off the students. We aim to relook at and reorient the Union budget in a way which can address the cost-of-living crisis in some meaningful manner. One of the most prominent concerns of the student body is the exorbitant price of meals in the CEU cafeteria. We plan to try to find a way to subsidize the cost of meals in the cafeteria, as it is done in other Universities in Austria. Additionally, given the substantial number of third-country nationals at CEU we believe that the Student Union should also take a more active role in helping students from the aforementioned countries, particularly in matters of immigration, student housing, taxation, health insurance, concerns with landlords, and bureaucratic matters in German. Another issue is availability of affordable housing, especially for BAs. For example, CEU promotes Zoom as a housing option, which was mandatory for 1st-year BAs up until the last academic year. This rule was rightfully dissolved last year, but it is still one of the main promoted accommodations by CEU, despite the many complaints about the high prices, sub-standard living conditions, and ill treatment of students by Zoom’s administration. We do not support the promotion of this accommodation by CEU and we pledge to advocate for students to have access to affordable, safe, and decent accommodation. Overall, our goal is that the neoliberal crisis does not fall on the shoulders of students individually, but that we can create a support system in which we stand together through this. Besides the cost-of-living crisis, we are deeply concerned with questions of transparency and freedom of expression and protest at CEU. The University has been plagued by issues of transparency from the administration at multiple levels and the lack of communication from all ends has been a source of a trust deficit within the community. Addressing this requires the Union to be an active voice of the students. The administration has time and again cracked down heavily on multiple forms of mobilization that students have adopted. For example, students protesting for better stipends were forbidden from distributing flyers and putting up posters on campus without identifying themselves. In another instance, students protesting at a lecture were threatened with expulsion. At the time, the current SU Board unfortunately aligned with the administration. We do not stand by it and we pledge to advocate for our freedom to protest on campus. We recognize that this is symptomatic of a larger structural problem within Austria and we aim to address this as a core feature for transforming CEU to a space in which students can be actively political. An integral part of this involves recognizing and respecting freedom of expression as long as it does not promote hate speech. We have a zero-tolerance policy on ad hoc decisions on disciplinary matters and arbitrary crackdowns on students, including on matters of flyering and protesting on campus. Keeping in mind our geographic position in both Austria and Vienna, we recognize the changing nature of global and European politics today. While we acknowledge that democratic backsliding is a global issue, what is less spoken about is the increased spending on the military-industrial complex. This implies a complete distancing of the university from events and individuals who further the agenda of the military-industrial complex. At the same time, given the diverse nature of CEU’s student body, we believe that diversity is not just a slogan. We seek to make the university a less Eurocentric space which takes serious concerns of persons of color, trans rights, gender rights, and disability rights. We stand for international solidarity with struggles around the world that align with our values. Therefore, we want to see radical changes in student politics and engagement. We want an SU Board that advocates for the interests of PhDs, MAs, and BAs, and all our shared concerns. We want an SU Board concerned with the cost-of-living crisis and willing to do something about it. We want an SU Board that truly stands up for students and faces the administration to defend our freedom of expression and protest on campus. If you want to see these changes, consider voting for us, KSV-KJO!