Regarding our views on the armed conflict in Israel and the Palestinian territories and the role of our University, we published a joint statement with the deans of Radboud University last Sunday.
We believe it is crucial that students and staff members can make their voices heard on campus, which is why we provide space for demonstrations wherever possible, always on condition that demonstrations take place with respect for the physical safety, goods, and spirit of others, and of course with room for dissenting voices.
As we mentioned, making your voice heard is of great importance; especially at a university. So is listening to the voices of others. As Executive Board, we are also listening attentively to our protesting students and staff, and taking a critical look at ourselves in light of their protest and the other voices that have reached us over the past few days. We used the first few days of this week to exchange views on this matter with the deans and some representatives of the participational bodies.
Where do we stand, and what are we doing? First and foremost, we are looking at how we can transparently map all our institutional links and collaborations. Incidentally, most of this information is already public and accessible, but we hope to publish an overview of our global collaborations at institutional level online as soon as we have it, which takes some time. We also want to set up a committee to which institutional links and collaborations can be submitted, with an assessment framework inspired by our University's mission. Open science remains the norm in this context.
Extra UGV meeting
It goes without saying that we will be using the University's democratic structure to discuss all of this further. That is why, this afternoon (Thursday 16 May), we have called an extra University Joint Assembly meeting (UGV) in which we would like to exchange ideas on the above with student and staff representatives.
Regarding the protests on campus, our request remains that protesters leave the premises before dark. Spending the night in University buildings and grounds without permission is not permitted, also not in a tent: the buildings and grounds do not have an overnight function and do not provide sufficient security.
Daniël Wigboldus, Agnes Muskens, José Sanders – Radboud University Executive Board
