In a heated dispute with her department, a law student had, according to Radboud University, behaved so badly that she was banned from campus. However, the Council of State does not consider this justified.
A student in Nijmegen was at loggerheads with her department over flexible study arrangements. The university issued her with a warning for allegedly communicating with staff in an “intimidating, coercive and disrespectful manner”. When she brought her mother to the student services desk, she was escorted from the premises by the police, the judgment states.
She later received a second warning for allegedly shouting at staff over the phone and threatening to “sue the university into bankruptcy”.
According to the university, she continued to bombard the study advisor and staff at the student desk with intimidating phone calls and emails. After she allegedly threatened to come by, the student desk was even temporarily closed. Ultimately, Radboud University denied the student access to teaching and the teaching buildings for three months.
Insufficiently substantiated
Although the judges found that inappropriate communication had taken place, the documents do not show that the student actually made personal threats against staff members. Precisely because the campus ban was intended to protect physical safety within the educational environment, that threat should have been substantiated more thoroughly. (HOP, HC)
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