Mayor Halsema of Amsterdam calls the events at student association LANX “another example of a persistent problem that occurs among student associations”. She responds to yesterday’s news. A LANX dispute has been suspended due to excesses during hazing abroad.
One letter stated, among other things, that the freshmen had to earn points by having sex with a woman in an alley. The ‘ladies and sex related’ category also included the assignment ‘arrange a refugee’. The assignment was on a list that male first-years received in November last year during their fraternity introduction in the Romanian capital Bucharest.
“I find the information that has come out shocking,” says Halsema in a statement. “It shows that we still have a long way to go, starting with the students themselves.” The association called the assignments “degrading” and “deeply inappropriate”.
Halsema says she was informed about the matter by LANX last week. Soon she will talk to the association. She expects the association to take measures “to prevent such abuses in the future”. “I am also curious what additional sanctions will follow for the dispute in question.”
‘Not of this time’
Outgoing Minister Dijkgraaf (Education) calls the events “incredible and so out of our time”. “Unfortunately, we still see this at the start of the academic year. That should actually be a good, pleasant time. It is very good that institutions are responding strongly to this.” In his view, a robust discussion between educational institutions and the association is appropriate.
The VU University, University of Amsterdam and Hogeschool van Amsterdam speak today about this “stubborn behaviour”. They also decide whether LANX will still receive money from the institutions. Yesterday in the NOS Met het Oog op Morgen, Dijkgraaf called it good that the educational institutions remind the associations of their responsibilities.
- Amsterdam dispute under fire for ‘degrading’ initiation abroad
