In Utrecht, The Hague and at TU Delft, staff members and students protested against the cutbacks

The idea was that they would protest in Utrecht, Alexander Znamenskiy, VSSD Chair, said in his speech through his megaphone at the start of the protest at TU Delft. There should have been a major demonstration in Utrecht today against the planned cutbacks, but it was cancelled (in Dutch) after an ‘urgent advisory’ from the Mayor of Utrecht, the police, and the Public Prosecution Service expressing concerns that pro-Palestinian protesters may hijack the demonstration. The students union thus took the last minute decision (in Dutch) to demonstrate on the TU Delft campus instead. They stuck to their plan even after the ban on the demonstration in Utrecht had been lifted (in Dutch).

So at 13:00 on Thursday, about 150 people gathered in front of the Aula. Some had written slogans on pieces of cardboard like ‘Er is geen kenniseconomie zonder kennis’ (there is no knowledge economy without knowledge) and ‘overworked, overwhelmed and understaffed as it is’. A little after 13:00, the VSSD and the Lijst Bèta, Oras and Dé Partij student parties led the demonstration through speeches. Anyone cutting back on higher education is cutting back on innovation, stressed the speakers, while the Cabinet is talking a lot about the need for innovation.

The VSSD says that for students, there is an accumulation of ‘negative things upon negative things’ with the cutbacks, the increased interest rate, and the long-term study penalty. The demonstration continued with a march across campus in which the demonstrators shouted slogans like ‘students and staff members stand strong together’ and ‘EUR 3,000, up yours’. After the initial demonstration ban in Utrecht, last minute local demonstrations were also held in other student cities.

In agreement with the students

Deans Dick van Gameren (Architecture and the Built Environment) and Paulien Herder (Applied Sciences) joined the demonstration on behalf of the Executive Board. Executive Board Chair and Rector Magnificus Tim van der Hagen protested in The Hague. His Executive Board colleagues Marien van der Meer and Hans Hellendoorn were respectively on holiday and had other commitments. “If it had not been banned, we would have gone to Utrecht,” said Van Gameren. “We want to show that we are in agreement with the students. In the end, the cutbacks will mostly affect the new generation that we are teaching.”

Riel Bissai, an IDE doctoral candidate, thinks it is ‘scandalous that the Cabinet is cutting back on higher education now that there are so many crises in the world’. “Apart from that, I am here for the students. I support their resistance to the long-term study penalty.” He would have preferred that the demonstrators could have gone to Utrecht, even though he would not have been able to join them then. “It is disgraceful that the same authority against whom you are protesting, can call off a demonstration.”

Ridiculous

This feeling – on top of the criticisms of the cutbacks – emerged in the speeches at the protest in Utrecht. Despite the uncertainty, 3,000 had gathered there. Abdelkader Karbache, Chair of LSVb, the national students union, thought it ‘ridiculous that it was banned because of the threat of violence’, reports the HOP press agency. “That means that you can never demonstrate and we do not accept that.”

The LSVb Chair issued a call for action, writes HOP. “Do you want to mean something for the Netherlands? Then damn it, become a member of the students union!” Some speakers also expressed criticism of the FNV (general trade union) and AOb (education union), that heeded the request of Utrecht’s Mayor Sharon Dijksma to not demonstrate. And while there was no lack of pro-Palestinian sentiments expressed in speeches and slogans, this did not lead to disruptions. The two hour long march through the city remained peaceful.

Protestors had also gathered in The Hague. After the message was issued that the demonstration in Utrecht would not go ahead, an alternative programme was arranged in the House of Representatives building which could be followed by a livestream. Tim van der Hagen, Rector Magnificus of TU Delft, was present. During the demonstration in The Hague, it was announced that there would be a new protest against the planned cutbacks in higher education on 25 November.