The message from the ombudsperson and the trade unions (Sharepoint, ed.) is not new. About two years ago, several colleagues and I wrote an open letter to the Executive Board (CvB) asking the same question: “Do we value critical feedback?” The then-president, Robert-Jan Smits, reacted furiously — thereby proving our point.

Following our letter, three meetings took place with the Executive Board and the deans. Smits could barely hide his anger and accused us of trying to damage TU/e. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Despite my — sometimes sharp — criticism, I love this organization. I’ve been coming here almost every day for 27 years with great pleasure. The same goes for many colleagues, including those who now firmly support the trade unions and the ombudsperson.

Being able to handle criticism is one of the core competencies of good leadership. At a university in particular, substantive arguments should be embraced as an opportunity to improve processes and culture. We’re not a company where the boss’s word is law. We shouldn’t be ashamed of our mistakes, but instead show openly how we learn from them by changing our behavior.

If we do this properly, hopefully in the years ahead TU/e will once again make the news for positive reasons — for innovations emerging from our campus and for technologically advanced solutions to socially relevant problems. Hopefully also because TU/e will once again be a great place for everyone to study and work. However, I fear we still have a long way to go.

Boudewijn van Dongen is a professor of Process Analytics at TU/e. The views expressed in this column are his own.

This article was translated using AI-assisted tools and reviewed by an editor.