Students and Staff for Safety have reported to the Inspectorate of Education, they write on the Change.org website. They criticise the performance of the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board in terms of social safety.
(Photo: Thijs van Reeuwijk)
They assert that the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board are ‘not able to bring about a positive change in the TU Delft community’. The pressure group does not wish to share its letter to the Inspectorate with Delta, but says that it requested the Inspectorate to reconsider the positions of the current members of the Executive Board and Supervisory Board and find ‘leaders that merit our trust’.
A Students and Staff for Safety spokesperson says that this is the first time that the pressure group has sought contact with the Inspectorate. The pressure group considers the Plan for Change that was presented in May inadequate to create social safety. They also deplore the fact that, in their view, the perpetrators of undesirable behaviour are not being held responsible for their actions.
Lack of trust
Students and Staff for Safety write that they are frustrated after a meeting with the Executive Board was cancelled at the last minute by the Executive Board. Both sides were not in agreement about the terms of the meeting. For the pressure group, this action comes on top of a history which they believe shows that the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board are not dealing with the issue of social safety properly.
Apart from that, the protesters point to answers in a questionnaire that they had shared. The questionnaire was filled in by 48 people and concerns and a lack of trust dominate the answers.
More reports
When asked, a spokesperson from the Inspectorate of Education points out it this does not cover the hiring or firing of members of boards of management and supervisory boards. The Minister of Education appoints the Supervisory Board members. They in turn appoint the Executive Board members. The Minister can give the Supervisory Board direction, he wrote in June.
According to the spokesperson, the Inspectorate is still receiving reports from TU Delft, including from people outside the Students and Staff for Safety. He cannot share any information on numbers. The Inspectorate will start a new investigation in February. They will look at what is on paper about improving social safety, what the Executive Board says about it, and what employees think.
Meeting
Students and Staff for Safety and the Executive Board say that they are still open for a meeting. Both were in contact about the format on 18 September. The action group maintains its earlier condition that there should be an independent third party present and that public reporting should take place. In its earlier communication on this, the action group named Delta as the one who should do that. The Executive Board, on the other hand, wanted to first become acquainted and explore without the press being present.
A Executive Board spokesperson emailed that efforts will now be made ‘to propose a modified agenda under the guidance of an independent moderator. An agenda that everyone is comfortable with, when a journalist does attend’. “As for the letter to the Inspectorate, it is their right to discuss their concerns (also) with the Inspectorate. We sincerely hope that we will be able to discuss these concerns with each other from now on. That is and remains our sincere intention.”
So what were the Inspectorate’s findings again?
The Inspectorate of Education investigated transgressive behaviour at TU Delft from December 2022 to November 2023. In the resulting report, the investigators speak of intimidation, racism, sexism, bullying, exclusion, gossiping, social insecurity due to lack of leadership and a culture of fear, among other things. For instance, employees are said to be afraid to voice their opinions and hold each other accountable for behaviour.
The effects among TU Delft employees who have reported to the inspection are often long-lasting and hampering. The inspectorate speaks of psychological and physical health complaints, absence from work and a general feeling of insecurity. Stress, burnout, depression and PTSD, crying and tense home situations also occur, as do illness, vomiting at work, panic attacks and heart palpitations.
The inspectorate reports that TU Delft’s university administration has a lot of information regarding what is happening in terms of social safety, but that they ‘omit to add everything up so as to create a complete picture’. ‘The management’ also ‘does not adequately manage in terms of appropriate measures’. The Inspectorate believes that this is mismanagement.
Read the news and background articles on the Inspectorate’s report in our dossier.
Editor in chief
Saskia Bonger
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