External investigation into cooperation between TU Delft and police

TU Delft will commission an external investigation into the cooperation between the university and the police. A columnist from the university magazine Delta has received an apology after his name was passed on in the run-up to a demonstration.

TU Delft passed the names of climate activists on to the police, university magazine Delta discovered last February. It turned out that an agreement had been concluded regulating the cooperation between the university and the police.

Delta later reported that one of its own columnists was also on the list of names after calling for action against the fossil fuel industry. In a new statement, Delft’s Executive Board apologises for this. The columnist had also demanded an apology.

Knot in the stomach

“To be completely honest: as the Executive Board, the way the agreement was implemented leaves us with a knot in the stomach”, the board writes. “We stand for the right to demonstrate and for press freedom. The fact that someone writes sharp columns must not be a reason to pass on someone’s personal data when asked to do so.”

An external investigation into the matter will therefore be launched. “This requires care and therefore some time. Once we have the results we will share them. If it becomes clear that more things went wrong, we will also apologise for those.”

The board does defend the staff of the integral security team. “At the time they acted in good faith in accordance with the agreements set out in the agreement. If mistakes were made, then TU Delft made them as an organisation and the Executive Board bears responsibility for that.”