Good fun and beer are the two constants in the history of Ovum Novum, but lots of things have changed too, say the former and the current President.

Bart Verschure: ‘In your day Ovum was just a small club.’

Rein Ketelaars: ‘We had 130 members, a historical low point. Apparently we did do something right, though, because after that the number of members grew fast.’

BV: ‘We now have approximately six hundred members, and we’ve grown into the largest student association in Nijmegen. It’s great to see how things have changed. On the photographs from your time, everyone’s wearing bright yellow and purple; these days it’s all suits and ties.’

‘These days it’s unthinkable to build a fire in the association building’

RK: ‘We were going through an identity crisis. We so much wanted to be different from Carolus, yet we looked more and more like them. That explains the emphasis on yellow and purple. Our posters were in those colours, we walked around the University wearing yellow and purple, and if you showed up at the bar in a purple-yellow jacket, you got free drinks.’

BV: ‘Now the trend is more towards suits and ties at open parties. It’s what most members wear.’

RK: ‘We were constantly busy motivating people. We’d call up all the members on our list: we’ll give you a free sweater if you come and help. Maybe that’s why we grew so fast.’

BV: ‘And twenty years ago it was normal to build a fire in the association building on club nights. Or to make a mess and jump over the bar.’

RK: ‘It’s true we were a bit wild in those days.’

BV: ‘These days it’s unthinkable to build a fire in the association building. We still sometimes take the fire hose down and spray people, but that’s about the worst of it. Drinking beer, on the other hand, is timeless; we still do plenty of that.’

RK: ‘It’s completely crazy, when you think about it, to just build a fire next to the bar. Whenever it happened, we immediately intervened and put a stop to it.’

BV: ‘What about throwing flour around?’

RK: ‘When we went to visit sister associations, we did take along bags of flour. Innocent but messy fun.’

BV: ‘I think members today behave more responsibly. There’s been so much media attention on excesses at student associations.’

RK: ‘In my day you’d also sometimes read in the paper about a student drinking a litre of gin during an initiation ceremony. But things are under much more scrutiny now.’

BV: ‘Student associations tend to have a bad reputation. We have to do our best to gain some positive attention. Last week, I followed a media training programme, together with the other board members: we practised talking in front of a camera and then watching the recording.’

RK: ‘I think that’s really useful. When you ask people about student associations these days, they say: ‘That’s where they’re disrespectful to women and pour fish sauce all over you.’ That’s not the kind of image you want.’

BV: ‘We actually have a lot of positive things to show. At our last Christmas dinner, three year clubs from the period 1995-2000 showed up out of the blue to have a look around. That kind of long-term commitment is typical of our association and it’s quite telling.’

RK: ‘I see the same thing in my wife’s year club. She was an Ovum member too. I also know lots of Ovum couples who are still together. I think it’s great. Kind of a … heritage piece?’ (Laughs) ‘I wanted to say ‘trophy’.’

BV: ‘Something to hold on to, you mean?’

RK: ‘Yes. Student days are such a formative and exciting period. If you meet a nice woman during this time and then spend the rest of your life with her, that’s something special. And now we’re welcoming lots of Ovum babies. I’m curious when the first of them will join up.’