Director leaves over ‘difference of opinion’

Director leaves over ‘difference of opinion’

Communications Director Joost Ravoo is leaving TU Delft after more than four years. Reason is a ‘difference of opinion about the execution of the job with the Executive Board’.

This is stated in an e-mail sent to Deans and Directors at the end of April. What the difference of opinion is about is not made clear in the message. It contains laudatory quotes from rector magnificus and Executive Board Chairman Tim van der Hagen and Ravoo himself. According to Van der Hagen, Ravoo has ‘raised his directorate to a higher level’. The outgoing director himself lists achievements he is proud of, such as the ‘teamwork within the directorate’, the new policy for the Dreamhall and the position of Delta.

Delta is independent in terms of content, but organisationally it falls under the communications department. The relationship with Ravoo was very good from the start, says Delta editor-in-chief Saskia Bonger. “Joost has always championed transparency and free journalism within TU Delft, which is not a given. We had many interesting and open conversations about that, which I will certainly miss.”

Both Van der Hagen and Ravoo said they had nothing to add to the message to the directors and deans. Ravoo will leave TU Delft on 10 July, after which he will ‘detox from this extraordinary world’.

^{Joost Ravoo talking at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering in December 2022. (Photo: Patrick Wetzels)}