The University of Amsterdam (UvA), the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA), and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU) have jointly decided to restore their ties with student rowing association A.S.R. Nereus. On the condition that regular consultations continue and the association keeps working to safeguard social safety, members of the association’s board will once again be eligible for a board grant.
The ties between the UvA and Nereus were severed in 2024 following a “serious incident” at the Royal Student Rowing Association Njord in Leiden. A group of Nereus members entered the Njord clubhouse to carry out a brassen raid – the student tradition of stealing association property from another club. During the incident, historical items worth several thousand euros were destroyed, and a Njord member sustained a head injury. (DH)
The “mental car wash”, a sort of gym for mental activities, will be on site at Defqon.1 on Thursday 25 June. Ahead of the hardstyle music festival, they are offering festival-goers who are already there a “ride” through the car wash as part of research into how the activities work. Festival-goers can unwind in an ice bath, on a spike mat, or by doing breathing exercises.
Fifty of the participants will be fitted with a Garmin sports watch, and their heart rate variability (HRV) will be measured. “We can use HRV to measure stress, and we want to investigate whether the mental car wash does indeed reduce stress,” says UvA student Mathilde van der Houwen, who is assisting with the research.
The researchers were still able to carry out their research. Defqon.1 has since been cancelled due to a ‘code red’ heatwave. (LB)
The University Library on the Vendelstraat is once again accessible to students today. Yesterday afternoon, the library was evacuated due to a malfunction in the sprinkler system, an automatic fire-suppression installation.
A UvA spokesperson said that not all areas of the library have reopened yet: part of the building remains temporarily closed because of damage caused by the water leak. (DH)
The University Library (UB) has been closed with immediate effect since this afternoon due to flooding. A malfunctioning sprinkler system has rendered the building unusable for the time being. It is not yet known when the building will be able to reopen. Students looking for an alternative place to study are being directed by the UvA to this website. (TH)
The three Palestinian students who were due to begin their studies at the UvA in February but remained trapped in Gaza have now arrived in the Netherlands after all. The UvA has confirmed the news.
The students are part of a group of 42 Palestinians who had held visas to travel to the Netherlands for several months but were unable to leave Gaza because Israel kept the borders closed. They have now all arrived at Schiphol Airport. (TH)
UvA philosopher of language Maria Aloni and UvA hematologist Arnon Kater have been awarded an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council. The Advanced Grant is an individual grant of up to 2.5 million euros.
Aloni is receiving the grant for her research into the gap between rational thinking based on the laws of logic and how things often play out in the messy, everyday world. Kater will conduct research into a method for activating defective immune cells—which are supposed to eliminate cancer cells—via an alternative pathway. (SvdB)
All hospital care provided by Amsterdam UMC will be concentrated at the AMC campus on Meibergdreef over the next fifteen years. The VUmc campus on Boelelaan will therefore close as a hospital. The Amsterdam UMC Board of Directors announced this proposed decision today.
Since the merger of the two academic hospitals of the VU and the UvA in 2018, hospital care has been divided between two locations. The VUmc location on Boelelaan and the AMC location on Meibergdreef near the Holendrecht metro station. By 2040, all care will be provided at the AMC, while the VUmc will be used for research, education, training, and commercialization.
According to Hans van Goudoever, chair of the Board of Directors, this is not an easy message for many people in the organization. “Nevertheless, we believe it is better for our patients and healthcare providers to be located at a single site.” In an earlier interview with Folia, Yvo Roos, dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and a member of the Amsterdam UMC Board of Directors, had already indicated that it would be more efficient to have all patient beds at a single location.
The decision is not yet final; employee representative bodies still have time to respond. The board hopes to make a final decision after the summer. (SvdB)
Marlon U. and Reinout V., members of the right-conservative Vrijmoedige Studentenpartij (VSP) who were sentenced to community service last week for an assault at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, are appealing their convictions. This was reported by the right-conservative news website NieuwRechts in an article shared by the VSP on its Instagram page.
U. and V. were arrested in November last year on suspicion of assault. U. struck a fellow student on campus after being confronted about singing the Nazi song “Erika.” V. was found to have made discriminatory and racist remarks during the incident.
VSP founder U. was ultimately sentenced to 240 hours of community service and a two-month suspended prison sentence for public violence and making discriminatory remarks. Fellow party member V. received 180 hours of community service. It is not yet known when the appeal hearing will take place. (DH)
Former Minister of Education Ingrid van Engelshoven and her ministry prepared plans during the COVID-19 pandemic to introduce the COVID access pass at universities and universities of applied sciences. This was reported by NU.nl in its live coverage of the hearings held by the parliamentary inquiry committee investigating the Dutch COVID-19 response, which this week focused on education during the pandemic.
The pass was considered as a way to allow large groups of students who had been vaccinated, tested, or recovered from COVID-19 to attend classes on campus again. According to Van Engelshoven, it was not a straightforward option because access to education is a fundamental right and should not be limited to vaccinated students alone. In the end, a COVID access pass was never introduced for Dutch higher education institutions. (DH)