2 September 2024
The events surrounding the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the war and what the UvA's response should be, led to a new discussion about research collaboration with third parties. In response, a broad academic working group is working on possible additions to the existing ethical assessment framework for international collaboration, for example to ensure that UvA research does not contribute to human rights violations.
The process for this continues to take shape. Before the summer, a temporary working group had already gathered a lot of input, in organised discussions with students and staff and through the online platform Denk Mee. That working group made 11 recommendations.
It became clear that it is important to proceed carefully in tightening our reviewing method. At the same time, there is also a call for urgent cases to be dealt with quickly. Specifically, this means advice will be sought on a small number of urgent cases in the coming period so that a decision can be taken on them. More information on the next steps and opportunities for students and staff to provide input will follow soon.
Before and during the summer, there was extensive discussion about the UvA's house rules. In particular, the wording on where and when you can and cannot demonstrate was not clear enough. That is why work was started before the summer on updating those house rules, which also took the reactions of students, staff, the Dutch Trade Union Confederation (FNV) and several other civil society organisations into account. The UvA's Central Works Council and the Central Student Council are the main partners in this process and have been granted the right to be consulted (adviesrecht) on this topic. A first draft of the new house rules is currently before the representative advisory bodies. Local trade unions FNV, the National Federation of Christian Trade Unions in the Netherlands (CNV) and the General Union of Education Personnel (Aob) were also given the opportunity to provide input.
Partly at the request of the Central Works Council, an independent investigation will take place into the course of the demonstrations on campus between 6 and 17 May 2024. Among other things, the investigation will look at the Executive Board’s actions. The actions of other parties (the municipality, the public prosecution service and the police) are not part of this evaluation. More information will follow shortly.
The conversation about international collaborations and the UvA's response to the demonstrations is continuing, with representatives of groups of students and staff who do not feel safe on campus, with students and staff who have united in action groups, with representative advisory bodies and between students and staff on campus. As before the summer, guidance is available for these conversations, which can sometimes be very difficult.
Visit uva.nl/protests for more information regarding the demonstrations and the current situation on campus.