A new chapter is unfolding in the governance crisis at the Grotius building. The vice deans of the Faculty of Law do not recognise Michiel Kompier as their co-administrator. The University Joint Assembly (UGV) is also getting involved: it has filed a ‘motion of censure’ against the Executive Board today.

Is Michiel Kompier still interim dean of the Faculty of Law, after the Faculty participational bodies rejected his appointment and filed a motion of no confidence against him last week? Earlier this month, Kompier was appointed as a temporary replacement for Roel Schutgens, who suddenly and prematurely stepped down as dean.

According to the Executive Board, he is, but the vice deans with whom Kompier is supposed to form the Faculty Board do not recognise him as their colleague. That is what they communicated in an email to the Faculty staff yesterday.

‘We cannot allow the uncertainty that has arisen to affect the administrative power of our Faculty any longer’

Vice deans Claartje Bulten and Vincent van Hoof refer in their letter to the motions adopted last week by the Faculty participational bodies (FJA). According to the FJA, the Executive Board did not follow the rules for the appointment of an interim dean. The FJA also filed a vote of no confidence against in Kompier, which would require him to resign according to faculty regulations.

The adopted motions are leading to uncertainty around the ‘legal validity of interim dean Kompier’s appointment and tenure’, Bulten and Van Hoof write. ‘This may lead to void board decisions, damage, and possibly personal liability, among other things. We therefore do not consider Michiel Kompier to be interim dean until the status of his appointment is established.’

The vice deans also express their willingness to appoint a deputy dean ‘from among the Faculty Board’, meaning themselves. This deputy dean would then request the Executive Board to initiate a regular appointment procedure for a new dean. That is also the wish of the Faculty participational bodies. ‘We cannot allow the uncertainty that has arisen to affect the administrative power of our Faculty any longer,’ Buiten and Van Hoof write.

Dispute procedure

The University Joint Assembly (UGV) is also getting involved in the governance crisis at the Grotius building. Today, the central participational bodies informed the Executive Board by letter that they are submitting a ‘motion of censure’ concerning the Board’s actions. ‘The UGV is not taking this step lightly but in the belief that the manner in which the interim dean was appointed does not fit within the procedures and “mores” of the University,’ the letter reads.

The members are also initiating a dispute procedure against the Executive Board. Like the FJA of the Faculty of Law, the UGV believes that the Board failed to abide by the rules in appointing Kompier as interim dean. The dispute procedure should provide ‘clarity’ on ‘the proper procedure for filling an interim dean position’.

‘It took the management team an entire year to repair relations within the Faculty’

According to Works Council member Max Visser, this means that a three-member committee will be set to work to issue a binding recommendation. The central participational bodies, the Executive Board, and the Supervisory Board may each appoint one member of the committee.

Signal

‘This is first and foremost a statement of principle, because in practice months can pass before a recommendation is issued,’ Visser explains. ‘So chances are that the term of Kompier, who has been appointed for seven months – if he stays on, that is – will be long over by then.’

With the letter, the UGV therefore mainly wants to send a signal to the Executive Board. The fact that Executive Board appointed Kompier as temporary head of the Faculty of Law is a thorn in the side of the participational bodies. ‘He has shown himself to be unsuitable as an administrator,’ says Visser, referring to the experiences of staff at the Nijmegen School of Management and the Faculty of Social Sciences with Kompier as dean and interim dean. ‘It took the management team an entire year to repair relations within the Faculty after his departure.’

The UGV is still giving the Executive Board the opportunity to reconsider Kompier’s appointment as interim dean. In a closed meeting next Monday, the participational bodies would like to hear what measures the Board has taken, or plans to take, to deal with this governance crisis.

In dialogue

The Executive Board did not yet respond to the content of the letters from the vice deans and the UGV. However, a spokesperson did inform Vox that the Board is currently in dialogue with the participational bodies. Vice deans Bulten and Van Hoof were also unable or unwilling to engage with Vox.