Students and staff of the university may take part in the new national demonstration on 15 March. In addition, President of the Executive Board Daniel Wigboldus recently assured the members of the participational bodies that notices about the event can be sent out via the university’s channels.

On 15 March thousands of people involved in education – ranging from primary schools to universities – are expected to go to the Malieveld in The Hague to demand more investment in their field. The protest meeting, an initiative of the FNV trade union, was immediately supported by the VAWO academic union and the national protest group WOinActie.

In the Joint Assembly (GV), the members of the participational bodies wanted to know how the Executive Board of Radboud University felt about the new protest meeting.

Obstacles
Similar to the demonstration held on 14 December, the Executive Board wants to ensure that everyone can go to the demonstration, replied Executive Board President Daniel Wigboldus. ‘The Executive Board is sympathetic to the staff’s and students’ willingness to participate,’ he said. ‘If employees want to demonstrate, they can do so in consultation with their manager despite any obligations of seminars or examinations.’

‘We are sympathetic to the new manifestation’

But those who prefer to work should be given the opportunity. Where obstacles arise, the deans should determine what solutions are possible.

UB monitors
When Sven Meeder of the Works Council asked if the Board supported not only the staff’s willingness to act but also the demands of the demonstration, a semantic discussion ensued. ‘It is such a broad manifestation that it’s not clear to us what we’d actually be supporting,’ answered Wigboldus. ‘We have already expressed our concerns about work pressure at the university in the bottleneck analysis by VSNU, the Association of Universities in the Netherlands. Based on this analysis, we are also expressing our sympathy with the new protest action.’

Sander van der Goes, group chair of AKKUraatd, asked if calls for the demonstration could again be posted via the university’s channels. In the period leading up to the previous demonstration, the Executive Board temporarily removed a notice from the AKKU student union because someone quickly reading the screen in the University Library (UB) might have thought that it was a message from the university itself. At the GV, Executive Board President Wigboldus repeated that notices about the demonstration will be facilitated as long as it is clear who the message is actually from.