WOinActie wants to increase the “democratic character” of universities
Now that the cuts to higher education are being reversed by the new cabinet, interest group WOinActie has set its sights on a new goal: Dutch universities must undergo a process of democratisation. Through a survey, examples of “democratic deficits” are now being collected.
Democracy at Dutch universities is in a poor state, according to WOinActie. The national student and staff movement has therefore launched a survey to collect examples of “democratic deficits” at universities. These are said to involve cases in which “highly consequential decisions are taken top-down without consultation, participation or the consent of those involved,” according to a press release issued by the organisation this week.
The democratisation of universities has been a key pillar since WOinActie was founded, explains UvA professor and movement founder Rens Bod. “We see that adequate funding is actually easier to achieve than democratisation. That is why we have decided, through this survey, to gather a large number of concrete examples of excessive hierarchy within universities. We will present these to Minister Letschert in May.”
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By “excessive hierarchy,” Bod refers to major decisions taken by a university board “without having a mandate to do so.” He gives an example: “Consider how TU Delft shared the names of employees who wanted to protest with the police, or how in Utrecht several bachelor’s programmes are being discontinued without staff being involved in that decision.”
European counterparts
According to Bod, Dutch universities lag far behind their European counterparts when it comes to democratisation. “When a new rector or chair of the executive board is appointed, staff at the UvA, for example, cannot vote on this. The works council only has an advisory role. Whether it is Belgium, Germany or the United Kingdom, I do not know of any other country where university staff have so little democratic say as they do here.”
The survey, through which students and staff can support WOinActie’s case with personal examples, will remain open until 8 May. The results will then be anonymised, made public, and submitted to the Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Rianne Letschert.
