Labyrint was created after the fusion between two study associations for psychology students in Leiden, formerly known as "Nexus" and "de Kring".
De Kring
De Kring was founded in April 1948 by a group of psychology students that wanted to do more for and with fellow students than just studying. Apart from being a social association, de Kring was foremost an association that kept a continuing watchful eye on the content and organization of the course program of psychology. This had remained their main focus throughout the years, although the breadth of their activities increased.
Around 1980 de Kring called themselves a political union that wanted to raise awareness for student rights. De Kring raised awareness and lobbied for certain political decisions, like fund cuts, not just for Leiden University, but on a national scale.
The active members of De Kring wanted to purvey their critical stance to other students. To promote discussions and to link psychology to daily life, they insisted on introducing the course 'Psychologie In de Maatschappij' (Psychology In Society).
Even though De Kring was a structured organization in its early years, in the 1970’s that structure started to crumble. Up until 1992 De Kring was a study association with very little structure. There were no board members, just a group of active students that changed from time to time.
Nexus
This is how on the 4th of November 1987 Leiden's psychology-society Nexus was born. Nexus primarily aimed at organizing excursions, lectures, movie-nights and social drinks. The board organized these activities, sometimes in collaboration with active members.
The competition between de Kring and Nexus grew, especially when in 1992 De Kring drew up an authenticated act. As a consequence, De Kring also worked with a permanent board from then on. This board was supported by different committees. Apart from the Freshmen Weekend and the book and summaries sales, de Kring was now also organizing movie-nights, lectures and other study-related activities.
As of that moment, both organizations were organizing the same types of activities, aimed at the same audience.
Labyrint
In February of 1994, after a few fruitless attempts in 1993, the first step was taken in merging the two associations. This eventually led to a new study association: Labyrint.
In the year 2003 the study associations of the different fields of Psychology (SOAP, SOUL and Daidalos) were all integrated into Labyrint.
Labyrint is now the only study association for psychology students in Leiden. She consists of a board and lots of committees. Combined, these committees help organize a great range of different activities. Please check the 'committees' section of this website to learn more about these activities.