Photo Heeren XVII Heeren XVII, the name of the study association for the Agrotechnology Bachelor’s and the Biosystems Engineering Master’s, has a link with colonialism and is not gender inclusive, says inclusion project group DARE. They called for a change of name, but that has not happened yet.
What exactly is the situation? The name Heeren XVII was chosen in 1965 because Agrotechnology was the 17th degree programme in Wageningen and at that time all the students were male (‘Heeren’ means ‘gentlemen’). The name also referred to the Dutch East India Company board, which had the same name. Until recently, the study association mentioned that link on its website.
Earlier this year, DARE sent a letter to the study association board. It said the name Heeren XVII ‘can have an excluding effect for students who don’t identify with the male gender or who feel uncomfortable with the link to colonialism’.
Fernando Gabriel (27), a Biosystems Engineering Master’s student and involved in DARE, says, ‘While the East India Company deserves historical acknowledgement, times have changed. What we used to praise doesn’t deserve praise anymore. Having a study association named after the “successful” East India Company board implies praising the colonialist exploitation of the East India Company.’
Gabriel thinks everyone should feel welcome in a study association. He knows people who feel uncomfortable with the current name. Yet he also realizes changing the name is a sensitive issue for others. ‘People who feel connected to the association don’t associate the name with colonialism or sexism, but with a group where they made friends and have good times. I would not say the members are necessarily colonial-minded, but the name still is. There are students from Indonesia who may disagree with the name completely. I see changing the name as a historical responsibility, a way of saying: we are open to everyone.’
Unfortunate link
The study association also finds the link between its name and the East India Company board unfortunate, says chair Marjon van Overveld. ‘Even before we got the letter, our association board had been debating this connection. Until recently, our website said our name was a reference to the East India Company board, but we don’t want to be associated with a colonial entity. That’s why we updated the website and deleted that text. Then we got the letter from DARE, which showed there are people who’d prefer the association to have a different name.’
What we used to praise doesn’t deserve praise anymore
But changing the name is a sensitive issue for members, says Van Overveld. ‘We’ve spent the past 58 years building up something we’re proud of. If you tell someone at a trade fair or careers fair that you are in Heeren XVII, you get a positive response. Alumni still feel a connection with us years after graduating. Our name mainly has positive connotations for them and us. As a society we have built up our own history and given the name Heeren XVII new meanings. If we changed our name, we would be undermining our own history.’
Discussion
After DARE’s letter, a discussion was organized with invitations sent to representatives of DARE and Heeren XVII, the programme team for the Agrotechnology Bachelor’s and the Biosystems Engineering Master’s, and Dutch and international students (both Heeren XVII members and non-members). ‘We came to a joint decision to hold a survey among all the students, whether or not they are members, to find out their views on changing the name,’ says Van Overveld.
If we changed our name, we would be undermining our own history
Heeren XVII, DARE and the study programme team drew up a questionnaire that was sent to all Agrotechnology and Biosystems Engineering students at the end of the last academic year. The response was 52 per cent. In answer to the question whether people would feel more welcome with a different name for the society, 8 per cent said ‘yes’ and 81 per cent ‘no’. When asked whether people would feel less welcome with a different name, 67 per cent said ‘yes’ and 19 per cent ‘no’. A total of 9 per cent of the respondents thought it was a good idea to change the name Heeren XVII, and 85 per cent thought it wasn’t a good idea. None of the respondents said they were personally offended by the name Heeren XVII.
What next?
‘We discussed the survey results with the programme team and DARE and concluded it would not be desirable to change the name at this point,’ says Van Overveld. ‘Then we shared the results with our members at the General Meeting of Members, and jointly decided not to change the name.’
‘However,’ continues Van Overveld, ‘as a board we note that nine per cent of the respondents would prefer a different name. We can’t reach those students because the survey was anonymous. We are now calling on all students of Agrotechnology and Biosystems Engineering to talk to us as the board or to our confidential counsellor and contribute ideas on how to make sure everyone feels welcome at our study association.’
At DARE, Gabriel hopes the debate about the association’s name and its East India Company connections will continue. ‘I’m not an advocate of cancelling everything that we feel ashamed of. Quite the opposite, we should be transparent and open. Instead of removing the name’s colonial link from the website, as Heeren XVII did recently, it is better to publicly acknowledge that link and explain how you aren’t happy about that but are still keeping the name for other reasons.’
Gabriel hopes all current and future members will be told about this aspect of the name. ‘And that Heeren XVII organizes documentary evenings about the colonies, for instance, in addition to the activities geared to having fun or networking. The university is a place to become better human beings in every aspect. It is a place to ask questions, even when that’s painful.’
