Seven out of ten experience expectations to drink in the student sphere. This is reported by a survey conducted by the company IQ. The effort addresses student unions in Sweden, but the participation of the unions in Lund is nowhere to be found.
“We hope that Lund will participate as well. If they contact us, we’ll get going immediately,” says Magnus Jägerskog, CEO at IQ.
The unions ready to participate are Chalmers Student Union and the Sahlgrenska Academy Student Union, SAKS in Gothenburg, as well as the Stockholm Student Union in Stockholm. Unions in Umeå and Malmö may also be included. But nothing has been said about Lund, despite that it is one of the more prominent universities in Scandinavia.
Lund is not included
Magnus Jägerskog says that the unions that will participate from the start have been chosen based on national distribution and profile. Chalmers Student Union reported themselves to IQ wishing to participate in the upcoming effort campaign.
When Lundagård speaks to Lund student unions, almost nobody is aware of this effort, and nobody has been asked if they were interested in participating.
The effort itself aims to create a more inclusive environment and a smarter mindset as it pertains to alcohol.
Ludvig Sundin, Social Sciences Student Union President in Lund, is familiar with this campaign, but he says that the Social Sciences Student Union is not likely to participate. The reason is that the union does not arrange that many activities in which the students are offered alcohol.
“In Lund, the nations organize most of the arrangements where alcohol is involved,” says Ludvig Sundin.
Nations more likely to participate
Magnus Jägerskog is aware of the fact that in Lund and Uppsala, the nations are the places where most of the drinking takes place.
“The effort prioritizes a holistic perspective, but by and large I think the nations and the faculties are the places where the operations will take place.”
However, so far no nations have been contacted. Magnus Jägerskog explains that the effort focuses on the unions, since they exist nationwide in Sweden, and they are central operators.
“The unions work with health related questions. In the student life and alcohol context, I think interactive operations between unions, nations and the Studenthealth would be essential in order to gain any success,” he says.
Magnus Jägerskog says that Lund was never asked, since the plan of the effort was not to start off too grand with too many unions and operators involved.
“Firstly, we will gain knowledge from different unions,” says Magnus Jägerskog.
“This is also the reasons for the nations not having been asked so far. The aim is to include unions as well as nations, but the effort is so new, to the extent where IQ does not want to start off too grand,” says Magnus Jägerskog.
Support from SFS
The Swedish National Union of Students (SFS) supports the upcoming effort, which is to be initiated in March. SFS has requested subsidy in order to be able to include, in the future, all of the 51 student unions that are members of SFS. That is when Lund as well will have the chance to be included in this effort, which will be free of charge for the unions.
Text: Sigrid Rosell
Translation: Maximilian Aleman-Tennell
