Works Council advises TU Delft: terminate agreement with police

That agreement was the subject of discussion on Thursday 12 March during the consultation meeting between the Works Council and the Executive Board. The Works Council had already submitted written questions on 20 February, but these have not yet been answered. The new Executive Board Chair, Ingrid Thijssen, who met the Works Council for the first time in this setting, apologised for this. She said that more time was needed to familiarise herself with the matter.

This is partly due to recent developments. On 11 February, Delta revealed that the TU Delft Integrated Safety and Security department had passed on the names of End Fossil members to the police in 2024, because they had announced a peaceful demonstration. Delta also reported at the time on the existence of an agreement between TU Delft and the police that provides for the sharing of personal data.

On 9 March, it emerged that one of those targeted was the (now former) Delta columnist Bob van Vliet. His name had been passed on because he had written a column about climate vandalism a year and a half earlier and because he had attended another (peaceful) demonstration a year earlier.

On 11 March, Delta then published an analysis of the agreement’s contents, accompanied by a scathing assessment from Amnesty International. “With this agreement, the police and the university are opening the door to all kinds of intrusive data processing”, stated the human rights organisation.

The Works Council has also read the agreement and pointed out during the consultation meeting that the right to demonstrate is not mentioned in it, whereas sharing the names of demonstrators in advance conflicts with that right. The Works Council took issue with the fact that the names were shared via email, and therefore not via a secure connection, which is required when sharing personal data. The TU Delft standard email service is provided by the American company Microsoft.

Furthermore, the Works Council argued that the police can take action against people who commit criminal offences even without an agreement. The Works Council therefore recommended terminating the agreement and drawing up new arrangements that incorporate the University’s Code of Conduct.

Questions for the Mayor and Aldermen

The agreement is also a matter of concern for local politics. On Wednesday, the Delft branches of GroenLinks and the PvdA submitted written questions to the Mayor and Aldermen. These questions follow up on earlier technical queries, which revealed that the mayor was unaware of the agreement, even though it has been in place since 2015.

GroenLinks and PvdA conclude from Delta’s reporting that there is a lack of ‘organisational safeguards with checks and balances for information from TU Delft’. They wish to know whether the mayor has now been brought up to speed and whether the agreement will be continued or amended.

Mitigating damage

The political parties ask whether all the individuals whose names were shared in 2024 have now been informed of this, partly with a view to mitigating any damage. As far as is known, this has not happened. Bob van Vliet discovered that he was on the list because he had requested this himself from the Integrated Safety and Security department

Finally, GroenLinks and PvdA ask whether there is a difference between the campus and the city of Delft when it comes to fundamental rights. “Are there different rules regarding the right to demonstrate on the campus compared to other parts of the city?  If so, what are they? How does a passer-by, resident, staff member, student or anyone else know which rules apply in the area they are in?”, they write.

The Mayor and Aldermen have 30 days to answer the questions.

With the cooperation of Annebelle de Bruijn.