Demonstrators on the ‘walkout’ last Monday. Photo Resource The 14 academic universities and 36 applied universities of the Netherlands have agreed a joint approach to rules on demonstrations. On Tuesday 14 May, their umbrella organizations published guidelines (in Dutch) setting out 11 guiding principles.
The joint guidelines specify for example that university boards will not negotiate with people wearing face-covering clothing. In addition, ‘students and staff taking part in protests may be asked to show their student card, staff card and/or proof of ID.’ Spending the night on campus grounds is not permitted, not even in tents. Furthermore, occupying a building is not a valid form of protest and is not permitted. The universities will not tolerate the disruption of research or education by protests. If protests do not comply with the rules, the institutions will aim for de-escalation and may report the matter to the police.
In the press release (in Dutch) on the guidelines, interim chair of the academic universities association Jouke de Vries says that it is understandable students and staff are concerned about the situation in Gaza and that protesting should be possible. ‘At the same time, we are responsible for the safety of our people and we therefore want to make very clear what is permitted in and around our buildings and what not.’
Peaceful dialogues
‘Knowledge institutions are places where you can expect a critical take on society,’ says spokesperson Jan-Willem Bol in response. ‘And such criticism is welcome. We want to have a dialogue about this and other complex issues. Together, we want to make sure this happens peacefully. It is good that we have consultations at the national level on how the universities should deal with protests. It is clear no one wants scenes like we saw in Amsterdam in the past week. We are pleased the Gaza protests at WUR are peaceful.’
