The Dutch House of Representatives recently accepted two motions that seek to limit the access to university campuses for people without official institutional affiliations. Around the same time, several Dutch politicians made statements that betrayed disturbingly authoritarian attitudes towards participants in campus protests.
We find these developments deeply worrying, as they threaten academic freedom and the democratic right to protest. Therefore, we have sent a letter to the Minister of Education, Culture and Science and other politicians, urging them to
- NOT introduce access control or compulsory identification on campuses
- Respect the right to protest
The full text of the letter (in Dutch) can be found here