Van Kolfschooten finds the investigation quite strange, because the article he wrote does not discuss any incidents that took place at Erasmus University. “The article is purely about incidents that occurred at the University of Amsterdam and Leiden University.”

However, one day after NRC published the story, EM posted a story on plagiarism in a policy document Van den Boom drew up in preparation for ESHCC’s merger, an incident not mentioned in Van Kolfschooten’s article. In an interview with EM, ESHCC-affiliated professor Arjo Klamer expressed a strong suspicion that someone at the faculty had ‘leaked information’.

EUR has announced that it will examine several ESHCC employees’ e-mails. Van Kolfschooten wonders to what extent this is legal. “I know that employers have the right to inspect e-mails, even secretly, but they must have very good grounds to do so. I wonder if that is the case here. Because why would the university have any reason to believe that its employees were in touch with me regarding an article that is not about Erasmus University?”

Subjected to an investigation

Moreover, Van Kolfschooten feels, this action by the university is making employees feel less safe. “After all, is any employee ever going to be brave enough to talk to a journalist again? Because they must now take into consideration that they may be subjected to a forensic examination. This perfectly illustrates the culture of fear at ESHCC, which the university itself is currently investigating. I think it’s outrageous that something like this should happen at a university.”

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