Protests at Maastricht University - Update 4

Dear colleagues, students and residents of Maastricht,

The situation at universities in the Netherlands is on all our minds. Not only here in Maastricht, but emotions have been running high in many university cities. 

Today I am writing to tell you that in Maastricht we are doing our best to listen to everyone. We want to give every voice the opportunity to be heard. We are an academic community for a reason;  a community whose existence is due to the openness, diversity and complexity of debate, facts and the exchange of ideas. 

Recently, the Executive Board and all deans have been deeply concerned. A repeat of what happened in Amsterdam - the violence, the destruction, the danger - is unworthy of any academic institution. It simply does not fit with what a university is and represents.

Therefore, we want to let everyone know - whether you work, study or live near the university - that in any development around any kind of protest, we put safety first - always. For us, safety and acting with integrity are the guiding values in any future  development. I am talking about the safety and integrity of everyone: resident, student, colleague and activist.

With these values at the forefront of my mind, my efforts at the moment are entirely focused on de-escalating the situation at our premises. I want us to succeed in proving that we can safely discuss within our academic community a terrible conflict outside our borders. If we succeed in this, in one of the most international and diverse cities in the Netherlands, we can rightly call ourselves a city in which people learn to live with differences - from generation to generation, time and again.

That is - to put it mildly - not easy.

Every day, I get messages from people saying, ‘Rianne, why have you allowed such a demonstration in the first place? Why don't you kick those people off your property?’ And I am shocked by that. If someone from our UM community is so emotional and troubled by the ongoing situation in Gaza that they want to demonstrate about it, then that is fine. As long as it does not get out of hand, and the demonstration is not hijacked by people or organisations with non-peaceful aims, of course. That has fortunately not been the case with us so far. Let's keep it that way.

I want to repeat that with every dilemma that lands on my plate in the coming weeks, I will think first and foremost on your safety. Therefore, at some locations, only people with a UM card can enter and you will see more security walking around. Not ideal, but for the moment, in my view, the wisest thing to do.

However you feel about any conflict in any place in the world, at Maastricht University no one can let their opinions and emotions be accompanied by destruction, violence and danger to others. As soon as those things threaten to take the place of arguments, inspired voices and respectful ears - then the moment when we literally have nothing left to say is far too close. And that would be immensely sad.

Keeping our academic community together depends on all our efforts. We should therefore consider ourselves fortunate with the open and democratic nature of our community. Many discussions are planned with many different groups - including the Jewish community of staff and students. Meanwhile, there will also be an additional scheduled University Council meeting this Friday. Our University Council has been meeting with the protesters, has been briefed on their goals and remains in discussion with the Executive Board. Hopefully, thanks to these and many other ways, we will succeed in continuing to do justice to the multiplicity and multifaceted nature of the feelings in the hearts and minds of UM staff and students. 

It is up to all of us to respect each other and acknowledge the feelings of anger, sadness and powerlessness felt on so many fronts. 

Also on behalf of my colleagues in the Executive Board and all deans of Maastricht University,

Rianne Letschert
President Maastricht University