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UM Executive Board statement on politically sensitive meetings

The UM Executive Board and Faculty Boards regularly receive questions about meetings on politically or socially sensitive subjects held within the university’s walls and organised by employees and/or students. A panel discussion scheduled to take place this week has also led to questions. It has prompted the Executive Board to make the following statement:

Within our university, we want to offer as much space as possible to exchange views freely. We regard this as key to an academic environment such as ours. The university wants to facilitate this exchange of views, without itself taking positions expressed during those activities taking place within the university’s walls by our staff, students or other participants in those activities.

However, we do think it is important that there is room for debate and for the right to reply during and around those activities facilitated by UM, and that a safe working and learning environment is created for everyone. This also applies to the meeting organised by Free Palestine Maastricht (FPM) on Wednesday 23 March.

FPM has agreed to our demand to organise their activity in an open and inclusive environment, where there is room for different perspectives. After the event, we will meet with the organisers to assess whether these agreements have been met and to determine whether similar meetings will be possible and desirable in the future.

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