Uprising at Roland Holstlaan

These burglaries however have also sparked an international student movement among RH residents that seemingly extends beyond issues with Duwo alone.

The recent break-ins and broken locks on entry doors at Roland Holstlaan have left some of the international students living there feeling angry and insecure. The robberies compelled a group of RH student residents to stage a small protest at TU Delft’s International Office, send emails to Duwo and Delta, and also start a facebook page called ‘Boycott Duwo’, which now has some 180 members.

According to Ilias Ariston, an RH international student resident from the United States, there have been multiple break-ins recently, in which laptops, cameras and money were stolen. Ariston says Duwo and TU Delft should have acted sooner, especially since from 2006 to 2009 the number of break-ins at RH had jumped from 9 to 29, according to police figures.

Jan Benschop, Duwo’s managing director, says this feeling of insecurity among the residents is unnecessary: “The difficulty is that the internationals students complained to the TU but not to us.” And this is why Duwo reacted relatively late to the apparent wave of break-ins. Benschop: “As soon as we received reports of robberies occurring over a short time period, we took action.”
Last week Duwo deployed a security firm to provide extra surveillance and is considering installing permanent security cameras. Benschop says the international students themselves also need to be a bit more ‘streetwise’. Nevertheless, he believes it is fruitful for new students arriving at TU Delft to receive more information about safety and burglary prevention.

Two weeks ago the RH student group also met with the TU’s International Office. Judith Hofstra, coordinator of international relations, also agrees that incoming international students could be better informed about the (security) situation. “Indeed mistakes were made,” she says“, but Duwo is not a bad landlord and takes the complaints seriously.”

On their ‘Boycott Duwo’ facebook page, RH’s international students state their demands: “What do we want? Safe, livable, affordable housing, for current and future international students at the TU Delft. We believe that Duwo has been negligent in their management of the RH property and have violated the terms of the housing contract. They must be held liable for the property losses incurred by students, who have been the victims of the burglaries. Additionally contracts must be redrafted to protect students more effectively.”
As reported in Delta over the years, some international students have regularly expressed dissatisfaction with Duwo and the terms of Duwo’s rental contracts, including in a Delta archive article cited on the ‘Boycott Duwo’ wall.
Last Monday, Elco Van Noort, head of the TU’s International Office (IO), invited the RH students to a one-hour lunchtime meeting with Duwo to discuss these issues. Posting ahead of this meeting, Mohammad Reza Karimi, an RH student representative, wrote: “We expect tomorrow to be the day for us, time to ask for everything we think we deserve to get as international students of TU Delft.”

According to Karimi, the meeting was unsatisfactory: “For 45 minutes Elco van Noort from IO talked about Duwo, very generally. Then it was our turn. There was hardly any time to speak and lots of questions were asked. The questions were more about safety and the things Duwo has to do in order to assure safety and about new contracts. In the end, there was no time for all the questions to be raised. Another meeting is to be scheduled.”

Posting on the facebook wall, Cristian Nita added: “The Duwo & IO meeting from yesterday was a true disappointment and the international students again have to deal with Duwo by themselves. No postponement of the final date to sign the second contracts, nor a two months braking [sic] clause at the beginning of the second renting contract, were able to pass in the discussion.”
The RH international students have also involved Oras, the TU‘s student political party, in the action. Of the scheduled meeting with Oras, Nita’s post also reveals that the international students’ grievances go beyond just problems with Duwo: “In the meeting will be addressed the international students’ problems, like internship opportunities, working permit for students, Dutch fraternities and others.” 

Toelichting infographic:
Onder Delft steken al talloze buizen de grond in. De meeste putten zijn door NAM geslagen tijdens haar zoektocht naar olie. Maar het wordt nog een stuk drukker onder de grond. De meest linkse blauwe en rode lijntjes geven aan hoe de buizen van de TU mogelijk zullen lopen. Rechts in beeld zijn de mogelijke tracés van tuinders uit Pijnacker weergeven. De rode buizen zuigen straks warm water op uit een 2,2 kilometer diepe zandsteenlaag. Door de blauwe buizen stroomt het afgekoelde water terug naar twee kilometer diepte.

The recent break-ins and broken locks on entry doors at Roland Holstlaan have left some of the international students living there feeling angry and insecure. The robberies compelled a group of RH student residents to stage a small protest at TU Delft’s International Office, send emails to Duwo and Delta, and also start a facebook page called ‘Boycott Duwo’, which now has some 180 members.

According to Ilias Ariston, an RH international student resident from the United States, there have been multiple break-ins recently, in which laptops, cameras and money were stolen. Ariston says Duwo and TU Delft should have acted sooner, especially since from 2006 to 2009 the number of break-ins at RH had jumped from 9 to 29, according to police figures.

Jan Benschop, Duwo’s managing director, says this feeling of insecurity among the residents is unnecessary: “The difficulty is that the internationals students complained to the TU but not to us.” And this is why Duwo reacted relatively late to the apparent wave of break-ins. Benschop: “As soon as we received reports of robberies occurring over a short time period, we took action.”
Last week Duwo deployed a security firm to provide extra surveillance and is considering installing permanent security cameras. Benschop says the international students themselves also need to be a bit more ‘streetwise’. Nevertheless, he believes it is fruitful for new students arriving at TU Delft to receive more information about safety and burglary prevention.

Two weeks ago the RH student group also met with the TU’s International Office. Judith Hofstra, coordinator of international relations, also agrees that incoming international students could be better informed about the (security) situation. “Indeed mistakes were made,” she says“, but Duwo is not a bad landlord and takes the complaints seriously.”

On their ‘Boycott Duwo’ facebook page, RH’s international students state their demands: “What do we want? Safe, livable, affordable housing, for current and future international students at the TU Delft. We believe that Duwo has been negligent in their management of the RH property and have violated the terms of the housing contract. They must be held liable for the property losses incurred by students, who have been the victims of the burglaries. Additionally contracts must be redrafted to protect students more effectively.”
As reported in Delta over the years, some international students have regularly expressed dissatisfaction with Duwo and the terms of Duwo’s rental contracts, including in a Delta archive article cited on the ‘Boycott Duwo’ wall.
Last Monday, Elco Van Noort, head of the TU’s International Office (IO), invited the RH students to a one-hour lunchtime meeting with Duwo to discuss these issues. Posting ahead of this meeting, Mohammad Reza Karimi, an RH student representative, wrote: “We expect tomorrow to be the day for us, time to ask for everything we think we deserve to get as international students of TU Delft.”

Of the meeting, Karimi said: “For 45 minutes, only Elco van Oort from IO and a Duwo representative talked, very generally. Then it was our turn. There was hardly any time to speak and lots of questions were asked. The questions were more about safety and the things Duwo has to do in order to assure safety and about new contracts. In the end, there was no time for all the questions to be raised. Another meeting is to be scheduled.”

Posting on the facebook wall, Cristian Nita added: “The Duwo & IO meeting from yesterday was a true disappointment and the international students again have to deal with Duwo by themselves. No postponement of the final date to sign the second contracts, nor a two months braking [sic] clause at the beginning of the second renting contract, were able to pass in the discussion.”
The RH international students have also involved Oras, the TU‘s student political party, in the action. Of the scheduled meeting with Oras, Nita’s post also reveals that the international students’ grievances go beyond just problems with Duwo: “In the meeting will be addressed the international students’ problems, like internship opportunities, working permit for students, Dutch fraternities and others.”