UvA interview with Vlaams Belang politician cancelled: “Impact on campus too big”
A planned campus interview with right-wing nationalist Flemish politician Tom van Grieken has been cancelled following consultations with the university. This was confirmed by Room for Discussion and the UvA. The “required impact and resources” needed to facilitate the event were deemed too great. Van Grieken had been scheduled to visit the Roeterseiland Campus on Thursday.
Debate platform Room for Discussion has had to cancel a planned interview with prominent nationalist Flemish politician Tom van Grieken. According to the organisers, the decision was made after consultation with the university. The interview with the leader of Vlaams Belang was scheduled for April 23 and had already been announced on the Instagram page of the Faculty of Economics and Business, but will now not go ahead.
Van Grieken
Van Grieken, who was invited, has been the chairman of the Flemish nationalist party Vlaams Belang since 2014. Under his leadership, the party has taken a far-right course with a strong focus on Flemish independence and a strict migration policy.
A staff member of Van Grieken confirms that a conversation had been planned at the Roeterseiland Campus, which has now been “cancelled by the organiser.” The party has been informed that Room for Discussion made this decision “after consultation with operational contacts.”
“Standard assessment process”
In a response, Room for Discussion states that the platform follows “a standard assessment process” in the run-up to interviews. “In the past, this has occurred for various reasons, including security assessments in consultation with the university and local authorities, editorial considerations, and logistical constraints,” the organisation said. It declined to provide detailed reasons for cancelling the interview with Van Grieken through official channels. However, according to members of the platform, safety concerns and the level of security required for the event played a significant role.
A spokesperson for the UvA said that, “as usual,” a broad assessment was made, involving multiple parts of the organisation: “In this case, it was concluded that the required resources and the impact on the Roeterseiland Campus to facilitate this interview would be very significant.” According to the spokesperson, Room for Discussion decided to cancel the interview with Van Grieken “based on that broad assessment, of which safety is one aspect.”
Disrupted conversations
The university has been grappling for some time with the impact of high-profile guests on campus. Last year, a conversation with then Minister of Defence Ruben Brekelmans was cut short after fifteen minutes due to safety concerns. A year earlier, a discussion with NATO military official Rob Bauer could not take place, events with then Minister Ollongren were cancelled, and an interview with Mayor Femke Halsema had to be relocated. In 2018, additional security measures were required to facilitate a talk with the controversial Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson.
