Message from the Executive Board and Council of Deans to students and staff
Dear students and staff members,
Together, we form an engaged community where over 30,000 people study, develop knowledge, and discuss a multitude of topics with each other. We are a world-class university and we are at the heart of society. A society that we study, and whose issues we contribute to solving. Issues ranging from health and sustainability to the impact of AI and geopolitical tensions. Because of our commitment to our environment, the openness of our institution and the work we do, social debate also takes place within our community. In recent years, we see that debates are hardening, in politics, on social media, and also on our campus.
Since the events in Israel on 7 October 2023, the fierce debate on campus has centred primarily on the conflict between Israel and Palestine, and the role the University should play in it. There is not only debate, as at meetings of Radboud Reflects and Situating Palestine. There have also been actions and lectures, which have at times led to confrontations. There was a temporary pro-Palestine encampment on our campus in the spring of 2024 and 2025, and five buildings were temporarily occupied in recent years. Based on our responsibilities, we have had to set limits, also on protests.
Both representatives from the pro-Palestine movement and Jewish/Israeli students and staff have indicated to us that they feel uncomfortable or no longer safe on campus. Students and staff who do not belong to any of these groups also regularly report that they do not like the situation on campus because of the polarising expressions from different directions.
There have been calls and claims from both the pro-Palestine movement and the Jewish/Israeli side addressed to the Executive Board. Calls to forbid certain expressions or actions, or access of people to our campus, or on the contrary to allow them. There have also been calls to completely end any cooperation with Israeli institutions, or on the contrary to proceed with such partnerships.
Although the National Student Survey 2025 shows that overall, students still feel and know that they are very safe (socially) on our campus, and they feel free to express their opinions (8.35 on a 10-point scale and 4.14 on a 5-point scale, respectively), the Executive Board believes it is of utmost importance that everyone feels and knows that they are safe on campus at all times. At various times, we have made it clear that we want to make room for potentially fierce debate on campus. Dialogue is the foundation of our institution. Freedom of expression and academic freedoms are important values that we must treat with care. As a scientist and lecturer, you have a responsibility to be thorough and careful in distinguishing opinions from facts and, in polarised discussions, to express yourself carefully by explaining positions, e.g. by referring to historical and social context. We also draw the line at vandalism, occupations, hate speech, incitement to and glorification of violence, discrimination, intimidating and aggressive language, and racism. These are things we do not allow. If people do engage in such behaviours, we will intervene together with our deans and, where necessary, in collaboration with the security triangle. Not because we seek or want this, but because as an institution we also have norms to enforce.
The Executive Board has taken a position on the Israel-Palestine conflict based on advice from our advisory committee and grounded in academic research. In short: Institution-level collaborations with two Israeli research institutes have been suspended, and we will not enter into new collaborations with Israeli research institutes for the time being.
At the same time, we are committed to encouraging dialogue and encounters: In cooperation with Radboud Reflects, Deel de Duif, UGV and others, we are organising one-on-one talks, dialogue sessions, and lectures in the coming period.
In doing so, we hope to bring parties together and move from debate to dialogue so that people can meet, ask each other questions about content, and try to understand each other.
In recent weeks, the debate online and on campus has focused on the statements made by one of our colleagues. We have received both internal and external calls from people who wholeheartedly support him and those who feel his statements cross a line. The Executive Board has previously indicated that we do not endorse many of the statements made by the colleague in question, and noted that they also do not fit within the agreements we have made about this at the University. These include posts on social media about ‘finishing October 7’, an expression of support for a lecturer who had applauded the murder of Charlie Kirk, and one in which the colleague in question referred to the murder of two British Jews in Manchester as the result of inevitable anger. Following an intense months-long process, the lecturer and the University have agreed to part ways. Our hope was that he would agree to limit his expressions to what is acceptable within the context of our Code of Conduct. Unfortunately, this did not happen.
Debate is a core value of our society and therefore also on our campus. It is precisely by thoroughly questioning each other – and the status quo – that new knowledge and new solutions emerge. This is the essence of science and progress. We conduct the debate based on the principles of the Dutch rule of law, in which, for us, tolerance, freedom of expression and academic freedom are central. And yes, that can and may include friction and tension. In the process, we – as a knowledge institution – aim to bring parties together and let the debate be primarily an in-depth dialogue in which people ask each other questions about content in order to learn from each other and/or try to understand each other. That is who we are: Radboud University Nijmegen.
Executive Board and Council of Deans of Radboud University