Faculty of Social Sciences will become an ‘Erasmus School’

The Faculty of Social Sciences looks set to be renamed the Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences soon, which new name is expected to be used from the upcoming academic year onwards.

The Faculty Council discussed the faculty’s new name on Monday. Vice-dean Victor Bekkers said he felt the new name fits in well with the names of other former faculties which have become Erasmus Schools. ‘One of the reasons why we want this new name is because we want to emphasise we’re an internationally oriented place. Secondly, the new name does a better job of covering all the subjects taught at the faculty,’ Bekkers stated at the Council meeting. The vice-dean also said the name ‘Erasmus’ was a strong addition. ‘It’s a strong brand name.’

‘Erasmus School of Bullshit’

There was some confusion at the meeting regarding the acronym to be used. Officially, the school will not have an acronym (‘since it took people a long time to get the hang of “ESHCC”’), but the faculty board have been informally using ‘ESB’, i.e., the Erasmus school of Social and Behavioural Sciences.

Student Councillor Sharona Boonman said she felt this name was rather confusing, because in this particular acronym, ‘S’ stands for ‘Social’, whereas in ‘ESE’, ‘RSM’ and ‘ESL’, it stands for ‘School’. According to the faculty board, ‘ESSB’ and ‘ESSBS’ had been rejected due to the historical connotations of the acronym ‘SS’. A proposal by Councillor Huib Tabbers to change the order of ‘Behavioural’ and ‘Social’ (i.e., ‘ESBS’) was rejected, as well. ‘The Erasmus School of Bullshit,’ one of his colleagues suggested with a chuckle. So for now, the school will be called ‘ESB’.