Students can make their own choices. Let us have our hot chocolate

Chocolate milk and snacks belong in the vending machines on campus, writes student Kire Kuil. ‘The urge to make everything healthy and sustainable infringes on people’s freedom of choice.’

It is 28 August, and after a fun but demanding summer break, I have to go back to the university for a lecture. With a hint of reluctance, I get on my bike and have a brief realization, that luckily I will be able to drink hot chocolate again during the break.

After a grueling 45 minutes, the break finally arrives, and I walk at a hasty pace to the coffee machine. But it was then, that I discovered that they removed the hot chocolate milk. When I then attempt to score a small snack, it turns out that all the snack machines have also been taken away.

At the moment it felt as if the very foundations of my world were shaking, I was devastated. A crime against humanity, choice, freedom, and most importantly hot chocolate.

But what fuels this drastic shift? Why does the university seek to deprive me and thousands of other students of our cherished hot chocolate milk and accompanying snacks? After looking at the university’s website, I concluded that the main reasons for this change were to make things healthier and more sustainable.

This then resulted in sugar-containing products being removed from the assortment. This all made sense when I saw that a sustainable, vegan machine replaced the beloved vending machine.

It appears that ‘sustainable’ has become a buzzword that the university feels compelled to include in every third sentence they craft. I think this really symbolizes the forced approach the university seems to take.  

Please do not get me wrong, I too am concerned about the environment and the health of fellow students. However, this apparent push to make everything healthy and sustainable seems to be infringing on people’s freedom of choice. I think with this approach the university signals that they potentially underestimate their students, who are (mostly) adults and after all academics.

Consequently, I am confident that the majority of students are fully capable of exercising their autonomy, whether that means choosing a vegan coffee or savoring a hot chocolate.

Nevertheless, I agree that it’s commendable to see healthier and more eco-friendly options cropping up. I, therefore, for example, would not recommend selling vapes with heavy discounts at the university.

However, it’s crucial to remember that we’re discussing hot chocolate here, not a detrimental product. Naturally, this assumes that one isn’t consuming ten cups of hot chocolate.

Similarly, downing ten vegan coffees isn’t likely to do your stomach any favors. Yet, in both scenarios, I believe students should possess the basic understanding to make these distinctions.

So by eliminating the ‘unhealthy’ choices, it feels like our freedom to choose is being subtly eroded. This freedom of choice should be in place at a university, where critical and independent thinking is praised.

To conclude, I want to end with two quotes. The first one is from the university and the second one is from the American writer Madeleine L’Engle:

‘With the arrival of the new vending machines, it will be easier to make healthy(er) choices.’

‘Because to take away a man’s freedom of choice, even his freedom to make the wrong choice, is to manipulate him as though he were a puppet and not a person.’

_Advertentie.