DNU paints red square at Maagdenhuis three years after occupation

DNU, the activist organisation that was born during the 2015 occupation of the Bungehuis and the Maagdenhuis, believes that too little has changed. ‘The board and politicians are still not doing enough to fight the extreme workload […] and the recommendations of the Diversity Committee have been ignored. No decolonisation, no democratisation, no results,’ it writes on its Facebook page. The activists state that the student councils are not in a position to solve problems like bureaucracy and top-down management and that, therefore, further strikes and occupations are needed.

Geert ten Dam: ‘It’s a pity that activists do things like this. But I understand that it’s because they care about the university.’ Ten Dam states that she too has concerns about the workload at the UvA. ‘We are worried about the pressure on, and structural under-financing of, the universities. We are one of the few university boards that signed the #woinactie petition to get more money for higher education.’

However, Ten Dam also says that the UvA has changed a lot in the past few years. ‘We pay a lot of attention to the quality of education and research, and there is more contact between management and employees and students via the university forum.’ She says she understands that some groups would like things to change faster. ‘We need to talk about this. Not encourage vandalism.’