On this page you’ll find an overview of our team. Also check out our election booklet!
High Praesidium
Aaron Soens, Sharon Arts, Valerie Hufkens
Behold the culmination of student wisdom and geopolitical consciousness: the triumvirate. This golden trio forms the intelligible incarnation of the three muses fluttering in Freuds head when, in capital letters, he secretly wrote the words “pleasure principle’ down in his diary. Ruled by their reckless passions this triumphant trio will save the breakwater entitled NFK for coming school year foaming of doom. No maniac maelstrom or nihilistic sentiment may dampen the energetic enthusiasm of these adepts of Athens, which any form of material mutiny would make a strong piece of vehement fatalism. Of course, Freud himself would not be satisfied with this mere surface study of the triumvirate, so let’s descent to the triune dreamscape where we can reveal the true identities behind these amiable affects.
Sharon is an appearance that even the most traumatized mind van never supplant truly. Equally famous as infamous for her resounding laughter, impressive organizational skills and her tendency to ambiguate the meanings of words like “exuberant” and “exorbitant” during the annual carnival, she is uniquely qualified to ship NFK to the right course.
If we would make mention of a physicalistic interpretation of the philosophy of mind, undoubtedly Valerie would represent the left half of the triumviral brain. This noumenal nature nymph carries the soul of the forest, and is partly responsible for the changing of the seasons and the cycle of death and rebirth to which all life belongs. This makes her exceptionally suited to help grow and flourish a new season of NFK activities.
Aaron, lastly, rises as demiurge of the praesidium, the Alpha and the Omega, the Aaron. His leadership qualities are beyond doubt, as he manages to bind his will to the uncontrollable urges of twenty warriors during many weekends. After years of meditation, he managed to communicate with the Soul of the lifeless, whereafter the four-pointed food impalers promptly chose him as savior and ambassador. It goes without saying that this hero, for whom the word superego only houses a euphemistic designation, can save NFK from a moribund solar revolution of mischief. So roll out the flag and sound the trumpet, with this triumvirate the NFK is ready to march bravely towards next year The sun shines at its fullest, and surprisingly the owl of Minerva flies already off at morning dawn! Forward friends, to glory!
Treasurer
Leander Vignero
Leander V. will take the great responsibility on himself of guarding the little treasure box of NFK. Because aside from being a great philosopher, Leander is also very good at accounting, a discipline for which he already has degree. Leander already has some tricks up his sleeve regarding the next budget exercise. He wants to investigate whether or not it is fiscally lucrative for us to hide our treasure to a later to be chosen tax free haven. That being said, he also has some ideas for the next culture trip, like Luxembourg, Panama or the Cayman Islands.
Fakbar
Laurens Convale, Emiel Van Drutten, Manu De pauw, Joris Verschoren
Four enthusiastic youngsters will take matters in to their own hands concerning the fakbar. The Dutch Emiel v.D. is already trying to secure his place as the future supervisor, while revolutionaries Joris V. and Manu D.P. battle with full conviction for an independent Limburg, especially in the fakbar. Manu calls himself a proud Limburgant, but that hopefully will not affect the tempo at which he, Joris and Laurens C. will hand you your beer.
Freud’s analysis:
Emiel never overcame his sadistic-anal phase, so beware when he hands you your beer. Both Joris and Manu, as well as Laurens, suffer from an Oedipus complex, that they repress by drinking far too much and staying up until the early hours. I think it’s safe to say that there are no better people imaginable to run the fakbar.
Bread meal
Astrid Bostoen, Alexandra Verhaeghe
The A-team in charge of our weekly bread meal consists of two lovely ladies; Astrid B. and Alexandra V. They are also a part of the lounge team, so their involvement in the bread meal was the next logical step. Alexandra suffers from a permanent balance deficiency caused by an accident in her younger years, but don’t let that scare you: the meal provided every Friday will make up for it in balance and health.
Welcoming Team
Joris Vanschoren, Manu De Pauw, Sofie Verslype
Welcoming as they are, the ravishing Sofie V., Joris V., and Manu D.P. will make sure that the students of the next first year will feel right at home. After being bitten by the notorious NFK bug, they are ready to take these baby philosophers under their wings. Those who know them can tell you that these three lovely people have already enjoyed all that Leuven has to offer to the fullest. No better people imaginable to show the baby philosophers around in our beautiful student city!
Culture
Carolien Saenen, Sofie Gerits, Gregg Smits
The people responsible for the cultural part of our praesidium have had a difficult task set up for them ever since the European explorers opened up their sails to travel the world in the 15th century. How to deal with a postmodern, multicultural society? Each of these cultural critics has their own view on the matter. Gregg S. is a communist and therefore strives for socialist realism in the footsteps of Jozef Stalin. With her daring acting performance with the NFK theatre group, Sofie G. showed us that there aren’t many things that she is not willing to try. Carolien S. takes her job as critic very seriously. So please keep your silly rhymes to yourself when she is around.
Party
Oscar Lobato, Sofie Verslype
The two miscreants Oscar L. and Sofie V. have volunteered as tributes to organise awesome parties and lyrical cantuses. Because they take their job very seriously they’ve already come up with a couple of names for the cantuses, such as the Yes We Cantus, the Immanuel Kantus and the Jacques Lacantus. In other words, all names that, to be honest, have us quite depressed. Sofie also wants you to know that when she gets really wasted she always craves a mitraillette mexicano, and usually ends up getting one at the Istanbul on the Oude Markt. Thanks for sharing this information with us, Sofie, now there are certainly no doubts left you definitely are a master partier!
Education
Nynke Van Uffelen, Wouter Termont, Ben Willebrords, Sophie Tielemans
One of the most important functions in the praesidium is without a doubt education. This task will be met by Nynke v.U., Wouter T., Ben W. and Sophie T. This team will make sure that our interests will be heard by the different parts of the administration, all the way up to the highest level. Nynke already has a year of experience in this field, which makes her very knowledgeable and even more up for the job then she was last year. Wouter was our treasurer and webmaster last year and succeeded masterfully in his two jobs. Our very own computer scientist will, sadly, only be continuing his job as webmaster along with his function in education. Ben is the lovely fresh face of this function and, overall, in NFK. But he already made a great year delegate for the first years, and thus was able to have a little taste of matters regarding education.
Course Service
Astrid Bostoen, Wouter De Hoog, Leen Krieckemans
For textbooks you are most welcome to come and bother this awesome trio. Astrid B., Wouter d.H. en Leen K. will make sure that the CUDI is open several times a week. Ever since Wouter wrote a very hard piece of criticism concerning the culture trip to Warsaw, there has been a bounty on his head of a couple of thousand euros, the price you pay for wanting to express your feelings.
Freud’s analysis:
I am happy to hear that two such lovely young ladies will be helping Wouter in this important task. Wouter’s Über-ich was never able to fully develop because of a very clear lack of upbringing. Because of this he clearly misses the social skills to understand that a not so subtle insult of specific individuals in our beautiful magazine does not show a high intellectual level. So hurry up, Wouter, to my renowned practice (only closed on Sundays) for a healing psychoanalytical talk.
Free collaborator
Annalise Delbouille
Another experienced NFK member is our beloved Annalise D. For a year, she served in the party and the fakbar team. Next year, she’ll take things a little bit more slowly as free participant. If you ever were to search her inside the walls of the institute, just look for the coolest hairstyle you can find, because Annalise’s hair is always right!
International
Oscar Lobato, Sofie Gerits
Oscar L. and Sofie G. will be the first people to come to with questions, complaints and personal crises for our beloved international students. Oscar originates from the far North, namely Amsterdam, and Sofie has roots in Mexico. Before Oscar started his education in philosophy he travelled the world. With all the cultural know how that he gathered on his travels, he feels ready to get the international students involved with our lovely NFK. The warm Sofie has proven time and time again that she has a heart of 24 karat gold and that she’s never afraid to try and fit everyone into that heart of hers. You won’t run into a better duo than these two for this task!
Sport
Kevin Lamy Stiers
Kevin S. — a.k.a the bull — already has wild ideas for the year to come. He couldn’t really count on a lot of enthusiasm from our vice-praeses with his idea to pick up a bench while she was sitting on it. You can hear whispers in the hallways about his awesome muscles. His fans say that he is a descendant from the old Greek god Zeus, his opponents, on the other hand, claim that he is addicted to anabolic steroids. When we asked him to comment on these rumours, he only wished to talk to us about ‘synthetic proteins’.
Freud’s analysis:
Kevin has repressed his use of muscle enhancers under the influence of his Über-ich by expressing himself in a euphemistic way. But he, and the function of sports, should be safe so long as he doesn’t take it a step further to mechanical doping. I am more concerned with our vice-Valerie. I recommend that she seeks council for her hysterical neurotic tendencies with a reliable psychoanalyst.
Lounge
Sien Leppens, Alexandra Verhaeghe, Astrid Bostoen, Tessa Vanbrabant
Without a doubt our favourite place in the philosophical institute is the lounge. Sadly, this beautiful place of extreme cosiness is often attacked by lazies who don’t do their dishes, and even by rebels attempting to set fire to her, without success, fortunately. But dream lounge team Sien L., Alexandra V., Astrid B. and Tessa V. are ready to defend the lounge with their life and discipline the lazies and the rebels attempting to destroy her. Sien really wanted to let you know that she experiences moments of ecstasy when her recently shaved legs touch her new, clean bedsheets. On top of that she is also very fond of professor Vergauwen, the eccentric instructor of the first years course logic. That being said, we do not wish to set up a truth tree to further explain the conjunction between these two facts concerning Sien.
Freud’s analysis:
Tessa’s enthusiastic use of the Limburgish accent tends to remarkably resemble my sessions in free association. Further psychoanalytical research will have to show if this inconsistent blabbering is caused by a repressed, difficult youth or by a discontinuity in the development of her experience of lust.
Public Relations
Gregg Smits, Iris Smets, Ann Mulleman
Gregg S., Iris S. and Ann M. have decided to take on the important task of public relations (PR). They make sure that all the activities NFK organizes are announced and programmed in time. Ann has already made a name for herself with her intriguing yet absurd Facebook statuses. From these statuses we have discovered that while it is ok for Ann if join her in her Christmas festivities, she does not want to pay for all the meat that is being consumed by them. When we asked Iris for more information about herself, she only wished to tell us that her favourite animal is a cat and that she sometimes brainlessly surfs the internet in her cookie monster onesie. Thank you for entrusting us with these very personal facts Iris!
deWijzer
Sofie Gerits, Gregg Smits, Ben Willebrords
Here we are, the all-knowing storytellers of this election booklet, Sofie G., Gregg S. and Ben W. With a sharp pen, ready to attack, we roamed through the institute, in search of ridiculous facts concerning our unknowing aspiring praesidiummers. We then transformed these facts mercilessly into poetic allusions and filthy lies. We are not sorry; a man has to keep himself occupied with something. In the best case scenario, you will always look forward to reading our next edition of the Wijzer. That being said, we are very much aware that there are no possible worlds in which we will ever be able to reach the same level of greatness as the present editorial team. But let it be known: winners never quit and quitters never win!
