On Monday 15 April, the Executive Board sent a Delta reporter away from an open meeting with three internal trade unions. The public and a Berenschot advisor were welcome. Both the FNV Government trade union and the Nederlandse Vereniging van Journalisten condemn their action.
The Students and Staff for Safety pressure group does not believe that the current Executive Board can pick up the pieces and make good. The pressure group was specially set up in connection with the social safety issue, and it wrote this in a statement on Thursday.
After TU Delft ordered Delta to take a critical article about the work culture at I&IC offline, the Executive Board Chair Tim van der Hagen today offered his apologies to Delta on behalf of the Executive Board. At the time of writing, it is not yet certain if the article can be put online again.
Monday morning Delta published an article entitled How confidentiality led to anxiety among I&IC staff and a loss of confidence in the Rector. Under protest, we removed it the same evening.
The Executive Board has imposed a duty of confidentiality on the management team of the Innovation & Impact Centre (I&IC) regarding the performance of the Director appointed on 1 April 2023. It has brought about such a level of uncertainty and frustration among I&IC staff members that they feel hurt. Twelve staff members spoke to Delta about a loss of confidence in Rector Magnificus Tim van der Hagen, the Director of Human Resources, and the Ombuds functionary. How one issue illustrates the conclusions of the Inspectorate of Education: welfare of employees at TU Delft is not being mismanaged
During an extra meeting, the Works Council and Student Council could question the Executive Board about the social safety plan of action. Reporting by Delta was also discussed.
The internal trade unions at TU Delft are critical about the composition of the social safety project team. They advise the Executive Board to reconsider the composition as quickly as possible and propose a solution.
The ‘Social safety project team’ has set four dates on which TU Delft employees, students and alumni can share ideas about ‘a safer working and studying environment’. The Supervisory Board will attend one of the sessions and the Executive Board another.
TU Delft alumnus Boris Schellekens filed a complaint at TU Delft’s Research Integrity Committee against the Dean of his former faculty Aerospace Engineering (AE). He is hoping that TU Delft will withdraw from the Future-proof Aviation manifesto.
