The Psychology professor who bombarded a student with inappropriate messages between 2017 and 2020 is leaving Radboud University as of 1 April. He has submitted his resignation. Whether his departure is related to the external investigation conducted into him cannot be confirmed by the dean.

In September 2023, the radio programme Argos revealed that a Psychology professor had bombarded a student with inappropriate messages from 2017 to 2020, leading her to develop a burnout. The then dean issued the professor with a warning that was added to his personnel file.

The radio broadcast unleashed a commotion at the Faculty of Social Sciences. In response to new reports and signals, the Faculty Board instigated an external investigation into the conduct of the professor, who has not been seen on campus since.

The professor in question has now resigned of his own volition, as Dean Evelyn Kroesbergen informed Vox. As of 1 April, he will no longer be working at Radboud University.

‘It was mostly men who held the senior positions’

The Dean did not wish to comment on any potential link between the Argos broadcast and the professor’s departure, nor on whether the professor was offered a settlement agreement (with or without severance payment). The professor also did not wish to comment on his departure. He informed Vox in a brief message that he was not open to an interview at the moment.

Staff and students at the department where he worked were informed of the departure last week. ‘I have answered questions from our colleagues about it,’ says Kroesbergen.

No ground for dismissal

The external investigation, conducted by Berenschot, began in January 2024 and was completed in May. The first part of the investigation concerned the reports about the professor’s conduct. All Kroesbergen could say about it was that ‘no new incriminating facts came to light that would have led to labour law consequences’.

In other words, there was no ground for dismissing the professor. The Faculty Board did, however, engage in dialogue with the professor regarding the outcome of the investigation and his future at the University.

Men and women

Berenschot did not limit their investigation to the professor’s conduct. They also looked at lack of social safety and the general culture at the department, which apparently also fell short. ‘A lot of supervisors in the period under investigation (2017-2020, Eds.) were not yet aware of their position of power,’ Kroesbergen says. ‘Moreover, it was mostly men who held the senior positions, while most assistant professors (UD) and PhD candidates were women. This reinforced the sense of unequal power relations.’

At the department, men would sometimes make comments among themselves that were not particularly woman-friendly. ‘At the time, these kinds of comments may not have been perceived as wrong by everyone, but they certainly felt that way to some. This is not only about gender, but also about inclusion in general. We have since addressed all these things in our social safety programme.’

Meanwhile, Kroesbergen says the culture at the department has much improved. ‘The research consultancy indicated that a follow-up investigation was not necessary. We are now in the process of improving social safety within the Faculty and the University as a whole. We have all become much more aware and conscious of these matters.’

Social safety

Procedures around social safety have also improved, says the Dean. ‘At the time of this case, investigators were still sometimes dependent on how individuals at the Faculty did or did not pick up or handle the report. Since then, there has been much more awareness and knowledge around these matters and, as a result, reports are now handled very thoroughly in coordination with HR, lawyers, confidential advisors and, if necessary, the Executive Board.’

‘These kinds of cases are always complicated and there are often only losers’

Ideally, says the Dean, the matter would have been settled more quickly. In the end, it took eighteen months from the Argos episode to the case being closed. ‘We wanted to proceed carefully. We could perhaps have made even more stringent agreements with the research consultancy to speed up the investigation.’

Kroesbergen finds it the question of whether she is satisfied with the outcome difficult. ‘There are several answers to that. I am satisfied that this started the conversation around social safety, and we have taken one more step forward in creating a socially safe culture. On the other hand, such cases are always complicated and there are often only losers.’

Pension

In his brief response, the professor informed Vox that he was not open to an interview. ‘Not that there is much to say anyway. I was only working one day a week at the University anyway, and I had decided several years ago that I would retire as soon as my last PhD candidate was done with their thesis. And now they are. So the timing kind of worked out in the end.’