Bridge between Forum and Orion renamed ‘liberated zone’. Photo Resource This morning, National Teacher of the Year (TOTY) Birgit Boogaard officially got her own tile in the Walk of Fame in front of Impulse. In the short speech she gave to mark the occasion, she also reflected on the protest.
Boogaard said, ‘There is a tent camp of students right now here on campus. If you are teaching social justice (like Boogaard, ed.), and talking about “education for liberation”, it feels very strange not to say something about that – since these students are calling for liberation. The only thing I want to say here is that I express my solidarity with these students and their protest. And I truly hope that Wageningen can be an example of how to deal with this in a dialogical way. I know there are conversations going on right now. It’s not an easy process, but so far I’m very grateful to see that it has been de-escalating here at this university. The conversations I had with the students over there were very supporting. I think in a certain way we can be proud of our Wageningen community and how this is going so far.’
