Since January 2020, Radboud University has had a Teachers' Lounge, located in the one building left of the old Thomas van Aquinostraat: TvA1. That lounge is a special place which is something we hear from everyone who has ever stepped inside. If you've never been there, stop by. You can do so at almost any time, but at least on Thursdays between 12 and 1 pm when we have soup for all RU teachers.
The teachers' lounge is a special place because it is pre-eminently the space where you feel you can step back from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, where you experience space to quietly reflect on what could (and maybe even should) be different in the education you provide or in which you are (perhaps indirectly) involved. Space to express what is on your mind and then discuss it with others without the urgency that what you discuss must be immediately useful and without the pressure of power that immediately situates your words politically in some potential conflict of interest.
In this regard, the faculty lounge is really a ‘thirdspace’, a space where reflective distance from dominant practices is possible, where possibilities can be explored and discussed and experienced as real options. The teachers' lounge is also in a literal sense an in-between space, a “boundary space”, which is quite unique on our campus. She is neither a teaching space nor a research laboratory. Nor is she an official office or a traditional meeting room. She is neither a place for academic staff only and no place for support staff either. She is actually an open, undefined meeting place, a place where the energy is vibrant to make our university community - however diverse in all possible dimensions - a genuinely learning community.
As an in-between space, our Teachers' Lounge is a gem that we should cherish. We must be alert to this and keep drawing attention to it. Because it is precisely in-between spaces that are easily overlooked. Especially when you are busy and engrossed in your day-to-day activities. Because interspaces belong to no one in particular, it can all-too-quickly happen that each party thinks another will take care of them. Fortunately, this is why we have the Radboud Teaching and Learning Centre, itself pre-eminently an intermediate party. The TLC will continue its efforts to call attention to and offer attention to the Teaching Lounge, to that place that fits so well with the bottom three tiles of the new educational vision: stimulating, welcoming and connecting. And because everything grows that you give attention to, I heartily encourage you to visit that Teacher's Lounge. Come and experience the peace and space. On Thursdays at lunchtime, for instance, when a cup of soup is waiting for you.