‘Supervisory boards of student associations are invisible’

‘Supervisory boards of student associations are invisible’

Executive Board member Marien van der Meer calls on the supervisory boards of student associations to take ‘more visible responsibility’ in preventing transgressive behavior within student associations. She writes this in a post on LinkedIn.

Above the cheerful pictures of the executive board visiting various associations during the welcoming week OWee, Van der Meer discusses the sanctions imposed by TU Delft on student associations Virgiel and DSC (in Dutch). She argues that associations should ensure ‘inclusive and respectful policies’. She praises boards that impose sanctions on their peers themselves. “This is not easy. Those who do deserve our support.”

^{Selfie of Marien van der Meer (front left) with next to her Mayor Marja van Bijsterveldt and behind her Rector Magnificus Tim van der Hagen and Vice Rector Rob Mudde.} 
 

Van der Meer notes in the post that ‘historical memory is limited’ within associations where boards change annually. Hence her appeal to supervisory boards, which she says are ‘invisible’ in the debate, ‘while they contain influential experienced alumni’. “Now it is the universities and mayors who intervene and limit. But that responsibility should be where it belongs, namely with the associations – and students – themselves. They must and can make that change happen.”