Han van der Maas | How to run an anarchist university?
Help run the UvA, writes Han van der Maas. Although a little warning is in place at an anarchic university like the UvA. And that is: “You basically get nothing done. Nobody gets anything done at the UvA.”
This column is for employees who find it interesting how things are organized. Our thing is the UvA, from the milk in the coffee machines to the cooperation with Shell, from compulsory attendance at tutorials to the distribution of government funding among the faculties. This is something you can and should think about. The UvA expects everyone to contribute to the administrative tasks.
You can contribute by participating in the program committee (OC) or the examination committee, for example. An even more interesting option is the Faculty Works Council, in which you have a say in faculty policy. I myself was a member for one period. For my later administrative tasks, this period was useful because it gave insight into how the UvA operates. It also made me look beyond the boundaries of my own department.
A warning is in order though: you basically get nothing done, nobody gets anything done at the UvA. That requires an explanation. In response to the 2015 Maagdenhuis occupation, almost 10 years ago now, I argued in the NRC that the UvA is an anarchistic university. No one really calls the shots here. I have often seen policies developed by the Executive Board, with the support of deans and councils, ignored on the work floor. I remember a new personnel policy in which advancement to a higher position, without having spent at least 4 years elsewhere, was made impossible. There was even an official booklet distributed with this policy. This seemed deadly to the building of my group, but to my surprise, my requests for internal promotions were simply approved.
This became also apparent when the Maagdenhuis occupiers who complained about the hierarchical administrative culture at the UvA discovered that top-down enforced policies (the ten-point plan) were largely ignored on the work floor. Everyone is pulling and pushing at the UvA, but its movements are as unpredictable as a flock of birds.
What also helps if you want to participate in governing the UvA is appreciation for the least bad idea. Our work actually relies largely on least bad solutions. That applies to the design of education, the distribution of resources, the governance model, and also NWO funding. The pursuit of the best solution leads to excessive regulation and bureaucracy.
Governing usually goes like this: a problem comes along and the ad hoc solution is obvious. Then comes the question of whether this ad hoc solution does not set precedents and whether a general rule is not needed. The meta-rule in these cases is that if such a rule can be established by general agreement within 5 minutes, it is a good rule. If it takes longer, requires a meeting, even the formation of a committee, then a monstrosity of a rule follows, which is at best ignored. Then better take your losses and decide ad hoc. This is meta-rule one of the anarchist university.
I am a co-founder of The Amsterdam Academy (DAA), which is running in the works council elections. We are looking for members but especially people who want to stand for election. The DAA stands for a critical but constructive contribution from works councils. You can also stand for election to one of the union lists (FNV and Aob), one of the free lists or the new list for PhD students. I warmly welcome that, too. Please forward this column to potentially interested people.
If you are elected a works council member, quite an honor, your department will receive a per diem for your work. That makes it one of the better-off administrative jobs at the UvA, and within a few months you'll know a lot more about the ins and outs of the UvA than your own superior. Always useful.
