Last year, the business faculty was subjected to an inquiry by an external committee led by Maastricht-based professor Gerard Mols. The reason for the inquiry was a critical report on the relationship between the faculty and companies in the fossil fuel industry. One of the things mentioned in the report was criticism of the contracts RSM concluded with Shell and ING. The contracts, framed and mounted on the third floor of the Mandeville Building, gave the companies a formal right to ‘influence the faculty’s curriculum’.
No evidence of influence
According to the Mols Committee of Inquiry, the investigation didn’t unearth any evidence that such influencing actually occurred, but it did conclude that the contracts were ‘awkwardly worded’. Initially, this led to RSM amending the contract with Shell, and the contract was later terminated entirely.
As promised, Dean Steef van de Velde submitted a progress report to the Executive Board before the 1 January 2019 deadline regarding the changes requested by the Mols Committee of Inquiry. This report has not yet been made public. It is, however, known that the requested corporate register, where the faculty discloses all of its agreements with the corporate sector, is now online.
This is a great start! Now, where is the decontamination committee? If Shell had legal right of influence, even if this was implemented with soft rather than hard power, perhaps some ecological therapy is in order. I recommend a few days of mandatory basics of thermodynamics courses on how fossil fuels are undermining the future of life on earth. Course Textbook: Merchants of Doubt, by Conway and Oreskes
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