{"id":108597,"date":"2020-01-30T10:02:51","date_gmt":"2020-01-30T09:02:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=108597"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:24:41","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:24:41","slug":"national-student-union-more-attention-is-required-for-metoo-in-higher-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2020\/01\/30\/national-student-union-more-attention-is-required-for-metoo-in-higher-education\/","title":{"rendered":"National Student Union: more attention is required for #metoo in higher education"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you are harassed at your own university or university of applied sciences, to whom can you turn? According to LSVb (the National Student Union), the universities\u2019 websites often provide too little information.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>

This is bad, because the number of sexual harassment cases reported to Dutch universities has nearly doubled in two years, the EenVandaag current affairs show reported last Friday afternoon<\/a>. LSVb says this proves that more attention for such problems is required.<\/p>\n

'Outrageous'<\/h2>

\u201cIt\u2019s bad enough that people are subjected to harassment,\u201d says LSVb president Alex Tess Rutten. \u201cBut that they should receive poor support, or no support at all, from their university on top of that, that\u2019s outrageous.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Union\u00a0checked<\/a> the websites of 18 Dutch universities and 36 Dutch universities of applied sciences and found that two in five universities of applied sciences do not mention on their publicly accessible websites how or where to report harassment. The same is true for three of the eighteen universities whose websites were subjected to a check. The investigators did not draw any conclusions about the individual websites.<\/p>\n

LSVb conducted its investigation shortly after a debate<\/a>\u00a0that was held in the Lower House on personal safety in higher education. One of the subjects debated was whether more ombudspersons should be appointed at higher education institutions. The Minister for Education refused to make any promises to that effect, to the chagrin of LSVb.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday MPs will be able to table motions. By releasing the results of its investigation the day before, LSVb is hoping to encourage the MPs to do just that. \u201cWe can see that the universities are taking the problem seriously,\u201d says Rutten. \u201cBut they appear to be unable to provide a safe environment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

\n\t\t\n\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t