{"id":130370,"date":"2021-09-16T14:14:27","date_gmt":"2021-09-16T12:14:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=130370"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:25:52","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:25:52","slug":"amsterdam-student-association-penalised-for-violence-during-initiation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2021\/09\/16\/amsterdam-student-association-penalised-for-violence-during-initiation\/","title":{"rendered":"Amsterdam student association penalised for violence during initiation"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Amsterdam student association A.S.C.\/A.V.S.V. has had its board member scholarships withdrawn due to \u2018serious incidents\u2019 during freshers\u2019 week initiation. The association is also prohibited from recruiting new members on campus this year.<\/p>\n

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A.S.C.\/A.V.S.V. was informed<\/a> of this decision earlier today by VU Amsterdam, the University of Amsterdam and Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. In their joint statement, the institutions speak of their \u2018disgust\u2019 with the violence during the freshers\u2019 activities.<\/p>\n

A number of participants were wounded during the initiation ceremonies, and several alumni expressed their concern in a letter to the association\u2019s senate, which fell into the hands of de Volkskrant<\/em>. Evidently there were scenes of \u2018extreme humiliation, with people being kicked and beaten\u2019, and problems that were raised were met with \u2018a wall of denial\u2019.<\/p>\n

Abuse<\/h2>

The senate acknowledged<\/a> the problems and called it \u2018a miracle\u2019 that no one had ended up in hospital. Six of the association\u2019s member societies (disputen) have been suspended due to \u2018gross abuse and humiliation\u2019 of prospective members.<\/p>\n

But that wasn\u2019t enough. The board members have had their scholarships withdrawn for a year and the association is also prohibited from recruiting members or promoting itself in the buildings of the three universities.<\/p>\n

VU Amsterdam, UvA and Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences do support the steps announced by the senate, such as abolishing this type of initiation ceremony \u2018in its current form\u2019. They\u2019ll be checking to see whether the association succeeds in its approach.<\/p>\n\n\t

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