Sorry after all

We start our weekly overview in Rotterdam, where the university board decided to apologize after all for going through the mailboxes of about twenty of its employees last October. There was a suspicion that one of the employees leaked information to NRC Handelsblad about alleged plagiarism in the speeches and thesis of Dymph van den Boom, former rector of the University of Amsterdam (UvA).

Earlier, the board of Erasmus University Rotterdam spoke of a ‘legitimate decision,’ but it has now sent a letter of apology to the employees who were under investigation and the university council. In retrospect, going through the mailboxes wasn’t ‘the best possible course of action,’ according to the board.

The inquiry committee that investigated the allegations of plagiarism during the last months arrived at the conclusion that Van den Boom had indeed been ‘sloppy with references’ but that she did not commit any plagiarism. The board of the UvA now shares the committee’s conclusion, but Van den Boom’s Dies speeches have been removed from the university’s website. The former rector will be given the opportunity to make adjustments to her speeches.

A bit too much fun?

In Utrecht, nights of playing poker and watching movies in the university’s educational spaces at the end of last year led to a conflict between two study associations and the board of the Humanities department. Multiple beers were consumed during those evenings at the Drift in the city center of Utrecht, which led to drunken students and subsequent acts of misbehavior, security officers say.

Consequently, the two associations were banned from reserving rooms at the university for a full year, a sentence the students - who claim not to be aware of the rules on eating and drinking - were not willing to accept lying down. According to our colleagues at DUB, the parties have buried the hatchet by now, and the original sanction has been turned into a warning. The rules on eating and drinking in educational spaces will be tightened up.

‘Lo’ from Leiden

He was enrolled last year together with all the other first-year students and can be seen on the poster as well. Meet Lodewijk, ‘Lo’ for friends, one of the five dogs living in houses of Minerva, the student association in Leiden.

Lodewijk the dog creates more unity in the student house, the residents tell Mare: “You get a baby and raise it with nine guys.” And you get new contacts in the neighborhood out of it as well,” resident Oliver says. “I’m bonding with all the housewives nearby.”

Living in secret

The University of Groningen’s news medium UKrant had an extensive interview with RUG students Maya and Lu (not their real names), whose residence must remain a secret. This is because they are custodians in a safe house that provides shelter to women with a history of sex work, which is why their location can’t be disclosed.

This means they can’t have friends come over unannounced, and inviting male friends usually isn’t an option at all. Lu: “It’s only after you’ve lived here that you start to realize the consequences of being mistreated. How much emotional disconnection and anguish it causes.”

Conference shame

Visiting conferences? That really isn’t necessary at all, especially “now that every self-respecting scientist has a 50-inch screen hanging on the wall to hold a teleconference with his colleagues with.” That is the opinion of Delta columnist Menno Blaauw, Program Manager Integral Management System at TU Delft’s Rector institute. “I wouldn’t dare to claim that all those conferences contributed to my scientific output. Not really.”

Blaauw believes his university, which aims to be CO₂-neutral within ten years, could be “a great example” to other Dutch universities and the rest of the world, and has started offering his own ideas. We are curious to know what our readers in Eindhoven think about this.

Unfortunately some of the articles we are referring to in this overview are available in Dutch only.