You cannot simply withdraw study financing from students who cause damage during occupations and protests. So writes outgoing Education Minister Robbert Dijkgraaf to the House of Representatives in response to various questions and motions surrounding protests in higher education.
Some of those protests ended in riots and destruction. Political parties such as PVV, JA21 and BBB want to crack down on aggressive protesters
But student funding is the wrong tool for that, the minister explained to PVV and JA21. The funding is not meant as a punishment or reward, but as a means to make higher education more accessible. They can, however, lose their right to study financing if they are expelled from their education.
Visa revocation
BBB suggested revoking foreign students’ visas if they were guilty of vandalism. That is a possibility, the minister said, but only if a judge has convicted them.
In an 11-page letter (in Dutch), Dijkgraaf addresses a variety of issues surrounding the protests and anti-Semitic incidents. His message: have faith in the educational institutions themselves. There is little or no need for the government to interfere.
Currently there are also protests going on at TU Delft and the building of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering is occupied, but for now things are a lot calmer there than, for example, in May at the University of Amsterdam. (HOP, OL)
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