LIVEBLOG - Radboud University is on strike today against budget cuts in higher education. Vox is providing live updates throughout the day. After speeches from representatives of the university, HAN, Radboudumc, and labor unions, staff and students marched toward downtown Nijmegen.

1:00 PM: Loud Applause for speaking staff and students

DON’T. DO. IT. The chants of student union president, university president Alexandra van Huffelen, lecturer and union spokesperson Ester Scherps, and especially student leader Nan Lont –  who may very well be hoarse by tomorrow – continue to echo across Linnaeus Square. Alongside a handful of other speakers from Radboudumc and HAN, they voiced their opposition to budget cuts in higher education.

Just like on November 14 last year, the square was packed with protesters. ‘Not just here, but across the Netherlands, we will see the consequences if these cuts go through,’ said Van Huffelen. ‘We won’t just have to shut down programs. The reality is that many of the people working here today will no longer be able to do so in the future. We don’t want that!’

‘We won’t be able to educate our children properly,’ the university president continued. ‘We won’t be able to fill crucial jobs. Just here in the region, in these so-called top sectors, more than 40,000 jobs will need to be filled in the coming years to keep things running—to ensure that people receive care, that production continues. Cutting education funding is not free. It is disastrous.’

AKKU president Nan Lont condemned what he called the ‘relentless urge to destroy’ through these budget cuts, describing them as ‘a frontal assault on everything we hold dear.’ His words were met with a visibly and audibly supportive crowd.

‘The money being cut from education – and also from healthcare – is being funnelled into defence,’ Lont argued. He warned that knowledge institutions are at risk of having to recoup their losses by collaborating with the military industry. ‘Science would be forced to serve the production of weapons without critical questioning. Well, no way!’ Followed by the chant: ‘I want books, not bombs.’

After a speech by Lotje Siffels (0.7) and closing remarks from WOinActie spokesperson Marc van Oostendorp, the crowd set off on a march along Heyendaalseweg, heading toward downtown Nijmegen, where the strike action will continue throughout the afternoon.

11:15 AM: Lectures and protest signs in the making

Around 10:30 AM, more than two hundred people had already gathered at the Linnaeus building. The square has a festival-like atmosphere – rock music sounds from the speakers, labor unions are handing out fries and coffee, and the university’s executive board is distributing currant buns.

Willem Halffman from WOinActie is pleased with what he sees. ‘The willingness to strike is very high,’ he says. ‘Flyers were handed out at every building this morning. Even at the University Library, there was a spontaneous protest, even though we hadn’t planned anything there. That’s great to see.’

According to Halffman, the real crowd will gather around 12:15 PM, when speeches will take place on the square, including one from university president Alexandra van Huffelen. Before that, several workshops on striking are scheduled. Halffman himself is rushing to a lecture hall in the Linnaeus building, where he will give a talk on the history of striking.

Meanwhile, at a table on Linnaeus Square, fifteen students from the student union AKKU are busy making protest banners. ‘We’re doing this for the Books Not Bombs campaign,’ says Aya Ahlalouch. The campaign is aimed at opposing Education Minister Eppo Bruins. ‘He has explicitly stated that the budget cuts are necessary to invest more in defence. While our university’s executive board has spoken out against the cuts, they have not addressed the root cause: militarisation and war. That’s what we’re protesting against today.’

Dean of the Faculty of Science, Sijbrand de Jong, is also present at the Linnaeus building. This morning, he helped distribute flyers, he says. He is striking today in multiple capacities. ‘As dean, I hope the budget cuts affecting my faculty will be reversed. As an employee, I worry about the impact these cuts will have on the atmosphere within the faculty. And as a citizen, I simply find it absurd that we are cutting funding for education and research in these turbulent times.’

08:00 – 09:30 AM: Employees gather in front of buildings

At the main entrance of the Erasmus building, shortly after 8 o’clock, four students and employee council member Peter van der Heiden are handing out flyers, but they haven’t had much work yet. Instead of speaking to people, they are putting up posters on the windows. ‘The average academic doesn’t arrive at work before nine anyway,’ Van der Heiden jokes.

Organising a picket line in front of the Elinor Ostrom building proves to be difficult, explains Juliette Alenda-Demoutiez, as she hands out flyers at the main entrance. ‘This building has many different entrances,’ says the associate professor in Economic Theory, noting that several colleagues apparently wanted to come to work anyway. ‘But we have already convinced some of them to come to the square near the Linnaeus building this afternoon.’

Several talks are scheduled at that square for the afternoon. This morning, union representatives are busy preparing stands with flyers, snacks, and a stage. Meanwhile, the first union members have officially registered for the strike.

AKKU student union board member Ties van den Bogaard is clearly pleased, as he attends his first-ever strike today. He also notices that many people at the Elinor Ostrom building are still working. ‘The management faculty is simply a different type of faculty in that respect,’ he says. ‘Even though not everyone is participating, we’re still getting a lot of positive responses.’

Students and staff members are also trying to convince people to join the strike at the Grotius building. ‘Some colleagues are still working, for example to prepare exams, but they are still trying to come to the square next to the Linnaeus building later,’ says assistant professor Ricky van Oers. ‘Some people, especially students, aren’t aware that there is a strike.’ At the law faculty building, things seem quiet for now. But whether it’s actually quieter than usual, the porter couldn’t say for sure.