{"id":119923,"date":"2020-11-19T14:07:26","date_gmt":"2020-11-19T13:07:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=119923"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:25:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:25:14","slug":"ombudsperson-wants-stable-governance-and-research-into-university-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2020\/11\/19\/ombudsperson-wants-stable-governance-and-research-into-university-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"Ombudsperson wants a stable board and an investigation into university culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ombudsperson at the Erasmus University, Edith Weijnen, recently presented her findings in a report on the pilot year of ombuds work, i.e., public advocacy work. It was, as she herself calls it, an eventful year in which she also experienced how high the level of work pressure feels at a university.\u00a0Her heartfelt wish is for a board that finds itself in clam waters, and she is keen to do research on the inherent culture.<\/p>\n

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Ombudsperson Edith Weijnen<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRonald van den Heerik<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Whenever Edith Weijnen, who started working as an ombudsperson in June 2019, is looking for some peace and relaxation from the hustle and bustle, she heads to the beach. From her hometown of Leiden, she can be in Katwijk aan Zee in no time. \u201cOne of the most beautiful beaches in the Netherlands,\u201d according to the lists. Why is that? \u201cI can show you hundreds of pictures, but I can\u2019t really describe it. I work three times as hard after an hour on the beach. I would recommend that kind of a break to everyone, including the staff at Erasmus University.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weijnen is originally a lawyer and environmentalist specialised in soil remediation. She subsequently did more managerial work and became chair of a complaints committee as a side job. \u201cEventually, that became the main focus. Committees were set up and the position of ombudsperson was created.\u201d She still remediates contaminated ground, except she does that for organisations now, she states. \u201cBoth are a black box<\/em>. When it comes to soil remediation, you install cylinder gauges in the soil and hope that you can see how extensive and how deep the polluted area is.\u201d That invariably also applies to complaints and their underlying problems.<\/p>\n

When people drop by to see her, Weijnen always has her \u2018antenna on\u2019. \u201cDoes the complaint belong to a larger cluster? One indicator is if I already have four similar complaints, then apparently there is more to it. Over the coming year, I want to focus more on those \u2018larger clusters\u2019 and help the people lodging complaints as much as possible. This will actually get the problems out into the open within the relevant lines of the organisation or get other support systems involved more intensively (e.g., psychologists or confidential counsellors, ed.).\u201d<\/p>\n

Intimidation, harshness and insecurity<\/h2>

It is clear from her annual report that Weijnen has by no means yet managed to probe the depths of the EUR. Employees submitted 122 cases to the ombudsperson during the first year, who \u2018sometimes struggle with feelings of discrimination or a lack of empathy towards cultural differences\u2019, she writes. A table in the report shows that more than half of the complaints were about the culture at Erasmus University, the majority coming from the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus School of Law and Professional Services (support services). A total of 22 students knew where to find Weijnen, for example when it came to exam issues. Students with a disability who were dissatisfied with how the university helped them during the corona period also contacted her.<\/p>\n