Far-right VSP no longer represented at UvA after split-off
The two elected UvA-members of the right-wing Vrijmoedige Studentenpartij (VSP) have split off. They did so in response to the arrest of party founder Marlon U. for an assault at the Vrije Universiteit. As a result, the VSP is no longer represented at the UvA.
The far-right Vrijmoedige Studentenpartij is no longer active at the University of Amsterdam. The two elected members of the party have ended their membership. Wytze Adriaanse, a member of the Faculty Student Council (FSR) of the Faculty of Law, stated that he and Thomas Groot, FSR member for Humanities, now operate under the name “Lijst Groot/Adriaanse.”
The right-wing VSP participated in the UvA student elections for the first time last year, after previously winning seats in the University Student Council of the Vrije Universiteit. During campaigns at both universities, the party emphasized “academic freedom” and “freedom of expression,” but it also positioned itself critically toward the LGBTQ+ community and the so-called “leftist stronghold” at the UvA. In the UvA elections, the VSP did not receive enough votes for a seat in the Central Student Council (CSR), but the party did gain representation in two faculty student councils with Groot and Adriaanse.
Assault
The party has now lost that representation. Adriaanse reported that he and Groot resigned their VSP membership over a month ago. They did so in response to media reports about the arrest of Marlon U., founder and chairman of the VSP. It emerged that U. and party member Reinout V. had been arrested in November and are suspected of assaulting someone on the Vrije Universiteit (VU) campus. Het Parool previously reported that U. struck a fellow student after being confronted about singing the Nazi song “Erika.”
The VSP is officially no longer active in the faculty student councils at the UvA. Earlier this year, however, Acta-FSR member Martrim Yousef switched from party Kies Acta to the VSP, but she serves on that student council in personal capacity and not on behalf of VSP.
Adriaanse told Het Parool that he “condemns any form of violence and Nazism” and is no longer a member of the VSP. He clarified to Folia that he and Groot had handed in their membership on January 12 and at that time decided to continue their work in the faculty councils at the UvA independently. VSP branches in Utrecht and Leiden also split off.
Although the current VSP faction at the UvA has been dissolved, the party could still compete for seats in the upcoming student council elections in April. It is still unclear whether it plans to do so.
Update Tuesday, February 10, 11:15: This article has been updated with extra information on the current situation of the VSP in the ACTA Faculty Student Council.
