UvA should focus on finding consensus after referendum, Ten Dam says
After one and a half months of analysis of the outcome of the UvA referendum, the committee on democratisation and decentralisation has on Wednesday published a report of 194 pages. There is a clear call for change, the committee says. The challenge will be to define what these changes should be.
Students and employees had been asked to choose between four models of governance as proposed by the committee, with each being attributed a colour label.
The so called blue model represented the least amount of reform. It called for quick fixes such as giving more administrative assistance to student councils in order to help improve the democratic legitimisation of the university’s governance structure.
In the orange model, the Board of Directors would still be in a position to make the most important decisions but students and work councils would likely have more co-decision power.
The yellow model was referred to as ‘the participative university,’ with staff and students responsible for the organisation of education and research activities. It provided for a form of self governance for faculties and research departments.
The green model provided for the most drastic change, with students and employees able to decide on all rules and policy decisions via elected managers and directors.
37% of employees and 12% of students voted.
Orange
A combination of the votes of students and employees shows the orange model to be the most popular, with 31% of the total votes. The yellow, participative model came in second with 25%, the green model third with 22%, and the blue model with 17%.
The orange model was also the preferred model among students, with one-third voting for orange, 29% voting yellow and 28% voting green. Only 6% of the students that voted wanted to maintain the status quo.
The university’s employees appeared to be more conservative, with 34% of votes going to the blue model. Orange got 28%, yellow 19% and green 14%.
Change
Even though there was no clear winner, students and employees all seem to be in support of change, chairman of the committee Lisa Westervelt said when she introduced the report. The challenge will be to define what these changes should be, but she thinks the outcome should provide the Board of Directors with sufficient guidelines.
Chairman of the UvA’s students council, Alex Tess Rutten, has meanwhile called for the board to enhance the corpus of rights of the participation councils.
According to Rutten, the student councils should be granted more power to decide on ongoing educational reforms, such as the mooted merger of the physics faculties of the UvA and the VU.
Senate
Students and employees could also vote on questions such as whether the UvA should adopt a Charter of guiding principles for its policy makers as well as a ‘new style’ senate, an additional participation council that would reflect on the long term strategy of the university.
Clear support for these two measures can be seen in the outcome of the referendum. A combined total of 63% voted in favour of a charter made up of 72% of students and 48% of employees. A combined total of 71% have voted in favour of a ‘new style’ senate made up of 81% students and 55% employees. The Board of Directors said earlier this month that it would be willing to introduce such a senate.
After the presentation of the report, Ten Dam said that this senate should play a role in ‘the preparation of the university’s policy,’ adding: ’We should be careful that tasks and responsibilities do not overlap with those of the other participation councils’.
In regard to the models of governance, Ten Dam said that the focus shouldn't be on which specific colour model to introduce, but rather on finding a consensus. ‘On how we should advance education and research and promote a stronger role for students and employees in that process’.
Lisa Westerveld suggested that the Board of Directors should agree upon the terms of the reforms to be installed. On the question whether or not a deadline should be set, Ten Dam said: ‘That’s not the way to come to an agreement. We should first define how we will shape the Charter and the senate.’
