I just got back from a motorcycle holiday. With a few good friends I drove to the Adriatic Sea, with the tent on the back. More than 5000 kilometers of steering on paved and unpaved roads. My fellow motorcyclists understand the fun of that. The red-and-white checkered bus stops in Croatia gave the travel destination a touch of Brabant, in an otherwise completely non-Brabant landscape.

When I looked out of the window of my office when I returned to TU/e, I saw red and white squares again and for a moment I thought I was back in a Croatian village. But unfortunately, it was the Brabant flag, waving in the middle between the TU/e flag, the EU flag, the Eindhoven flag and the Pride flag.

Somewhat pleased, I saw that the Ukrainian flag has disappeared. After several remarks by Cursor columnists, TU/e seems to have become truly politically neutral. Well, almost, because the Dutch flag really ought to be in the center, not the Brabant one. I assume, however, that this isn’t an intentional statement, but simply a lack of flagpoles.

To emphasize that TU/e is politically neutral and that there should be room at TU/e for civilized and substantive debate, space has also been made for opposing views. A clearly visible spot has been set up for protesters in front of the Metaforum. There is room for discussion without occupations and roadblocks.

You can discuss in a neat way whether you are for or against Ukraine, the climate, Trump or Israel there. I wonder if these discussions will produce more contrarian columnists, which we  desperately need according to Adriaan Duiveman, winner of the Kring Awards.

In case you were wondering: it is pure coincidence that the Croatian flag is basically the Dutch flag with the coat of arms of Brabant on it. Because although the once-feared Croats did invade Brabant in the 1630s, the history of both flags goes back much further.

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