BREAKING: TU Delft ends agreement with police

According to Thijssen, the termination is taking place in close consultation with the police. “We have reviewed the usefulness and necessity of the agreement together, and have decided to discontinue it.”

With the termination of the agreement, the exchange of information will “be based exclusively on a legal foundation”, writes TU Delft in a press release. “This means that data will only be shared on the basis of a request in the context of a criminal investigation, or where there is a vital interest in acute or life-threatening situations.” According to the university, no agreement was or is required for such situations.

This decision stands in stark contrast to previous decisions made by the Executive Board. Previously, the board members had stated that the sharing of names would still take place, but only ‘following an explicit decision by the Executive Board’. This would then be recorded centrally and reviewed annually.

Five names disclosed

The decision follows reporting by Delta regarding the disclosure of personal data by the Safety and Security Department in 2024. In the run-up to an announced protest during the Delft Career Days, the names of five climate activists from End Fossil – four students and one staff member – were shared with the police. According to the TU, this was intended for the purposes of a risk assessment, partly in light of previous incidents at similar demonstrations elsewhere in the country. The Executive Board faced criticism both within and outside TU Delft.

Although the employee representative body had advised the Executive Board in March to terminate the agreement, neither the Student Council nor the Works Council commented substantively on the decision during the meeting. However, the Works Council did raise an earlier article by Delta, which claimed that the Executive Board was not distancing itself from the sharing of names. That interpretation is incorrect, Thijssen said during the meeting. “In that report, we said we offered our apologies; to me, that seems the ultimate form of distancing ourselves.” She did, however, describe the statement on which the article was based as “perhaps worded a little too subtly.” She continued: “I take that to heart myself. I write these kinds of things myself and I do the final editing.”

The university is currently having an external research agency investigate whether the names of students or staff have been shared with the police on other occasions. Thijssen expects this research to be completed in June.