Radboud University rector to step down

Rector Han van Krieken of Radboud University is to resign from his duties earlier than intended. It was recently revealed that he received a warning for sexually transgressive behaviour. Van Krieken will no longer be appointed interim president of the Universities of the Netherlands, UNL, either.

End of September, newspaper De Gelderlander reported that in 2017 Han van Krieken had made comments to a female employee which could be perceived as sexually inappropriate, according to an external commission. After a complaint by the woman concerned was upheld, the rector was given a warning. The university kept quiet about the incident, but the news came to light six years later through the newspaper.

The University media platform VOX reported last Wednesday that Van Krieken is to step down immediately as rector, rather than waiting until 17 October, when Radboud University celebrates its anniversary. “I am aware that the situation that has arisen interferes with a festive 100th anniversary celebration”, he writes on the University’s website.

For the same reason, Van Krieken is also renouncing his appointment as interim president of the UNL association of Dutch Universities. UNL has been looking for a new president since the departure of Pieter Duisenberg.