Universities want money for processing of requests Open Government Act

Activists and journalists sometimes request large quantities of documents and correspondence from governments and implementing organisations, usually on sensitive subjects. To do so, they invoke the Open Government Act (WOO).

This also happens at universities. For example, they are required to share information about their ties to the fossil fuel industry or their cooperation with Israeli partners. Processing these requests takes a lot of time and money.

According to the ScienceGuide platform, the Universities of the Netherlands (UNL) want an exception to the WOO. This is apparent from a summary note from the Leiden Executive Board to their university council: “The UNL’s primary approach is that an exception should also be created in the WOO for public universities”, it states.

That is not correct, says Caspar van den Berg, chair of the umbrella organisation UNL (Universities of the Netherlands). He does not know why the Leiden board wrote it that way.

So you don’t want special treatment?

“Universities are strongly committed to transparency. Openness is a valuable asset and is simply part and parcel of publicly funded institutions. We have never advocated special treatment. What is causing problems is the sharp increase in the costs of the WOO. These efforts are coming at the expense of our education and research. That is why we are asking the government for compensation.”

Why should a university receive compensation for openness?

“Local authorities receive compensation too. They said: processing WOO requests is mandatory, we have no influence on the number of requests and the costs are substantial. These are valid arguments and they also apply to universities. So we don’t want ‘less openness’, but we do say: for universities, the costs have become disproportionately high and this should be offset by resources.”

Are there that many requests?

“The number is increasing. In a random sample, we saw a threefold increase in the number of requests since 2022. In addition, the complexity of the questions is increasing, which puts more pressure on the legal departments. Sometimes it involves hundreds of man-hours per request per institution. Sometimes they have to hire external help for this. It crowds out other work, and that is problematic.”

Of course we want to implement the WOO, but as far as we are concerned, this should not be at the expense of the core tasks

Surely you only use words like “problematic” and “disproportionate” if you don’t attach much importance to them?

“No, that’s not how we see it. Transparency is not the issue. It’s the unpaid bill that is. Our core tasks are education, research and having an impact on society. Of course we want to implement the WOO, but as far as we are concerned, this should not be at the expense of those core tasks. Again, the municipalities have made the same point.”

What makes a question complex?

“Sometimes the question itself sounds simple, for example the question about links with the fossil fuel industry. The question is legitimate, no one is judging that. But it takes a lot of effort to answer. Universities are often organised in a decentralised manner, with all kinds of faculties, departments and institutes. We then have to search for that information in every nook and cranny of the university. That is also a difference with the municipalities: they are used to making all kinds of decisions about, for example, permits, with appeal and objection procedures. They have a completely different information management system. It sometimes takes a bit of adjustment for universities.”

The ruling CDA party calls the WOO a thorn in its side and refers to it as excessive legislation. Don’t you agree?

‘That’s difficult to say. An evaluation of the law is coming soon, so let’s wait and see. What you hear – but this is anecdotal – is that the WOO is sometimes abused in labour disputes or by people who are eager to collect penalty payments. But that doesn’t happen at universities.”

Three ‘special’ universities (Nijmegen, Tilburg and VU Amsterdam) are already exempt from the WOO. The same applies to almost all universities of applied sciences (HBO).

“That difference is not down to us, but to the legislator. Incidentally, it does not mean that these three universities are less open. You can also be transparent without a legal obligation.”

HOP, Bas Belleman