“The person who crosses the boundaries is always responsible, never the one whose boundaries are being ignored… is that sufficiently clear?” This was Willy van Berlo’s concluding remark in the BOOS episode on The Voice of Holland. Profound, but the fact that this must be emphasised is harrowing.
What happened at The Voice is terrible but, sadly, not exceptional. Abuse of power and sexually transgressive behaviour occurs in the academic world as well. An Amnesty International study last year showed that 11 per cent of all female students are raped during their student career and that hardly any of the victims reports this to their educational institute. While it often adversely affects their study results. The percentage of women faced with sexually transgressive behaviour during their time as a student is many times higher.
The study prompted Amnesty to write a manifest for universities and university colleges to sign. Many, including Maastricht University and the Hogeschool Rotterdam, have already done so, WUR declined. ‘We do not sign statements, manifests and other public declarations, unless they relate to research or education, our core business, and we have co-authored the document or have been offered the opportunity to do so’, rector Arthur Mol stated in September of last year. Instead, WUR intended to formulate its own plan of action. However, what the status of that intent is, is anyone’s guess. A brief Google search yielded no answers.
For many women, their daily reality is: always be wary, always ensure your behaviour can not be misinterpreted
This just shows how fighting sexually transgressive behaviour is frequently seen as ‘not sufficiently important’. While for many women, their daily reality is: always be wary, always ensure your behaviour can not be misinterpreted and always text that you made it home safely. That women have to do this is ridiculous, of course. But it is our reality.
Thus, I call on all men and managers, supervisors and other persons (m/f) in positions of power within WUR who read this to step up. Ensure a safe environment for women where men keep their hands and comments to themselves so that transgressive behaviour no longer occurs. That way, we will no longer have to discuss why women did not raise the alarm sooner or whether they took sufficient precautionary measures. That is completely irrelevant, after all.
