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VU Pride

Welcome to VU Pride, the network for and by LGBTQIA+ students and employees of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

VU Pride aims to create a safe and inclusive environment for all individuals of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual (LGBTQIA+) community on our campus. We aspire to have an university full of diversity in which everyone shares understanding and tolerance for each other. We achieve this by organizing events and projects for people within the LGBTQIA+ community and for all those interested. Check below to see more about our upcoming events, our committees, our achievements, and more. We hope to meet you soon!

Follow us on Instagram! And be sure to subscribe for our newsletter!

Did you already read the interview from topuniversities.com with us? 

Our mission

  • Working on a more inclusive organization
  • Building a community for LGBTQIA+ students and employees
  • Creating visibility around gender and sexual diversity, and sharing knowledge about it.

Read our entire mission and vision document here. 

VU Pride’s tips & tricks for an inclusive teaching environment

With great pride we would like to introduce our latest VU Pride creation: a document with Tips & Tricks for teachers (to be) on an inclusive teaching environment. Click here to access the document (Dutch)

This short documents sums up what teachers can do to:

  • Make their classroom a safe(r) place for LGBTQIA+ students
  • Make their classes and literature more reflective of the LGBTQIA+ community
  • Be more inclusive in the way they address their students
  • And much more. 

Are you a teacher or TA? Please enjoy our document, which is hopefully an easy way to be more inclusive in your teaching.
Are you a (former) student? Please send this document to your teacher(s) if you think it might be of interest to them.

VU Pride's Guide for Trans, Intersex, Non-binary Students and Staff at VU Amsterdam 

VU Pride has developed a practical, hands-on guide for trans, non-binary and intersex students and staff, to provide helpful resources and concrete answers to frequently asked questions. You can download the guide here

Gender-inclusive toilets

Recently, with the efforts of VU Pride and the facilities department, at least 1 gender-inclusive toilet in every building has been realised. There are no doll-icons on the door, as with the men's and women's toilets. The toilets have sit-down toilets with wastebaskets next to them for menstrual products, for example. You can find where these toilets are in the list below. 

  • Main building: A-wing: 0A-T4, 4A-T2, 7A-T1, 15A-T4 E-wing: 2E-T1 and 2E-T2
  • Initium: 2B-T2
  • MF building: B-wing: B253, B255 C-wing: C163, C165 D-wing: DK18c F-wing: F024, F026a
  • New University building: 1A-T4
  • ACTA: 0Z-T01
  • Transitorium:  K1E-T38
  • W&N building: N-055a F-006
  • OZW building: 00-T1
  • O|2 Lab building: 0E T1

Please share your experience with these toilets, whether it is positive, negative or neutral. This way the VU Amsterdam can keep improving the quality of the gender-inclusive toilets. Also, if you have any questions or suggestions on gender-inclusive toilets at VU Amsterdam please share this too. You can share this via this email address.

Upcoming events

March

31 March: Bookclub

Hey hey girls, gays, and theys!!🌈

We are inviting everybody to come to 3D on March 31st from 17:30 to 20:00, for the very first version of our monthly Book Club! 📚🥳

As mentioned in our last post, this event will focus on the novel "Didn't Nobody Give A Shit What Happened To Carlotta" by James Hannaham. You're welcome to attend, even if you haven't read the book. Our two fantastic hosts will provide the group with excerpts of the text that best reflect its main topics so that all of our gorgeous guests can join the conversation.🤩😌

Drinks and snacks will be provided :) We hope to see you soon!! 👀💜   

Date: 31 March, Time: 17:30-20:00, Location: 3D@VU, Cost: none, Sign up: link

Weekly on Tuesdays: Study Group
Want to hang out with other VU Pride supporters, relax, grab a coffee and study? Starting from the 22nd of February, there will be weekly study groups in the Pride Library every Tuesday from 12.00p.m. until 5.00p.m. These study groups are unstructured, so feel free to drop by between lectures or join us for the full time: whatever you prefer. It's a great time to get to know your fellow VU Pride members better, while also getting your work done! And if you would like to organise the study groups and perhaps other things in the library, please let us know at pride@vu.nl. 

Date: every Tuesday, Time: 12:00-17:00, Location: Pride Library (main building, 2nd floor, B-wing), cost: free of charge, Registration not needed

Monthly: Games Night
Every month, VU Pride organises a fun game night in the Pride Library. We have a number of board games here, but feel free bring your own. You are welcome from 5 pm so you can go straight from your lecture to the game night. We hope to see you there!

Schedule
8 February: Online

Date: see schedule, Time: 17:00-19:00 (offline) and 20:00-22:00 (online), Location: see schedule, Cost: free, Registration not required

Become a supporter or a member

Would you like to receive our updates? Then you can subscribe as a VU Pride Supporter! This entails that you will be updated on all the work we are doing, upcoming events, information about possible vacancies, and we will sometimes ask your help through surveys or with other types of research. Would you like to be more involved within VU Pride? We would love to hear from you! Contact us via pride@vu.nl. You can find the possible committees you can sign up for on te bottom of this page under 'Meet our Committees!'.

Pride Library

On Purple Friday 2021, we officially opened our Pride Library. In our Pride Library you will find hundreds of rainbow books, both fiction, non-fiction and academic work. You can borrow the books through the University Library's lending system or enjoy them in the space itself. Aside from reading you will be able to play one of our (queer) board games, use the space to collaborate with other amateur writers, or host poetry slams and other social activities. Come take a look soon, you can find the Pride Library in the main building on the 2nd floor behind the elevator group in the B wing.

More about us

  • Meet our Committees!

    VU Pride has several committees, send an e-mail to pride@vu.nl if you have interest in joining one or more committees!

    DICK Committee (Diversity Inclusivity Community and Kindness) checks all our activities and material if they are diverse, inclusive and non-offensive.

    Peer Support Committee organizes activities such as the VU Pride TalkS! These sessions are there if you want to talk about your day-to-day life and experiences as LGBTQIA+ person.

    SCAF Committee (Science, Culture, Arts and Fun) is in charge of organizing get togethers for all our supporters and friends. Past events included a pubquiz, parties and more.

    Academic Committee hosts the Wild Wednesday Webinars which invites researchers to talk about their research which are all related to LGBTQ+ topics.

    Check our Youtube channel to view previous webinars. For the academic year 2021-2022 we are looking to host new academic events. Do you have a topic you want to learn more about? Or are you a scholar who would like to contribute to this? Please send us an e-mail with your thoughts!

    Movie Committee aims to feature LGBTQIA+ on campus. VU Pride cooperates with the Amsterdam movie organization Rialto.

    VU Pride Library Committee is creating our own VU Pride section at the university library featuring fiction and non-fiction books about LGBTQIA+ topics.

    Inclusive Curriculum Committee creates material to help teachers and professors to make their lectures and courses more inclusive. This includes providing information about gender, pronouns and more.

  • You can’t have a rainbow without any rain, VU Pride TalkS! and more

    One way in which we bring people together is through the peer support group we organize: VU Pride talks!. We discuss a different topic related to our community every month. One evening we talked about gender expression for instance and another about mental health as an LGBTQIA+ person. VU Pride Talks is a safe space for people to share experiences, vent and lift each other up. It has been great that we could still provide that sense of community online during the pandemic. Sessions are announced here on our website and on our Instagram page.

    There are also many other initiatives on campus focus on wellbeing, which you can find here.

    If you are feeling depressed or suicidal, please reach out to the social safety team of VU Amsterdam. You can find more info and contact details here. 

    You can also sign up for Praat Online, an online programme from the University of Groningen for people with suicidal thoughts and how to deal with them. 

    There is a cooperation of the VU with Gezonde Boel, they offer e-learnings on different subjects, take a look here. 

  • Social safety @ VU Amsterdam

    Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam does not tolerate any form of discrimination, intimidation, bullying, sexual harassment or other behaviours that violate our Principles. These constitute undesirable conduct, and they have no place at VU Amsterdam. Any form of behaviour or communication that makes you feel unsafe or that makes you afraid is worth reporting. To report this kind of behaviour, or to ask a question, contact the social safety coordinators via e-mail, WhatsApp or phone. You can find more information and contact details here.

  • Our achievements
    • A monthly series of webinars, fully focused on queer science! The Wild Wednesday Webinars
    • In cooperation with the IT team of VU, the pronoun options on both Zoom and Canvas have been adapted to be more inclusive
    • Hosting of a monthly peer support group, various movie nights, karaoke nights, ‘VU Pride Social Hour’ and many more fun events.
    • Establishing of a working group on bi+ issues, to give this often overlooking group their well-deserved place within the community.
    • Setting up a list with over 1,000 books which will soon be found in the Pride Library
    • Developing and sharing materials to make the curricula at VU Amsterdam more inclusive in the area of sexual and gender diversity.
    • Setting up a network with eight student ambassadors, in different faculties.
    • Informing policy makers at VU Amsterdam on the necessity of gender inclusive toilets. The first toilets are already there, with hopefully many more to follow!
    • And much, much more. Would you like to hear all about our achievements? Sign up as VU Pride Supporter!

Contact

Do you have any questions? Feel free to contact us! And if you want to become a VU Pride supporter and receive our newsletter, please fill in the form.

Follow us on Instagram to be the first to know about new events, and on Youtube you can relive past events.