{"id":147188,"date":"2022-11-25T14:21:46","date_gmt":"2022-11-25T13:21:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=147188"},"modified":"2026-02-10T15:23:58","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T14:23:58","slug":"critical-journalism-in-higher-education-is-rooted-in-the-1960s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2022\/11\/25\/critical-journalism-in-higher-education-is-rooted-in-the-1960s\/","title":{"rendered":"Critical journalism in higher education is rooted in the 1960s"},"content":{"rendered":"

All universities in the Netherlands, and some universities of applied sciences, have their own journalism platform. As Ries Agterberg, editor-in-chief of Utrecht University news website DUB, points out, this is a legacy of the 1960s.<\/p>\n

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The editorial team of Quod Novum, Erasmus Magazine's predecessor, in 1983.<\/span><\/p>

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Ahead of a conference on the history of journalism in higher education, he raised an objection with the organisers. So on Friday, he will be one of the speakers. Agterberg also chairs the circle of editors-in-chief of higher education media.<\/p>\n

He got in touch when he saw the title of the conference<\/a>: From a thorn in the side to corporate glossy?<\/em> It bothered Agterberg for two reasons. \u201cFor one thing, it suggests that a glossy can\u2019t write critical stories\u201d, he explains. \u201cBesides, you can hardly call these magazines glossies anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Groningen will host Friday\u2019s conference, organised by the Belgian-Dutch Society for the History of Science and Universities and featuring contributions about the journalism platforms at the universities of Groningen, Leiden, Delft, Leuven and Rotterdam. Agterberg will speak on the changing function of university journalism in general.<\/p>\n

Roots<\/h2>

In Agterberg\u2019s view, most of today\u2019s university magazines have their roots in the 1960s, when students rebelled and fought for the democratisation of universities. From 1970, Dutch universities were governed according to a kind of \u2018municipal council model\u2019 which gave student and staff councils a say in decisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was essential for the university papers\u201d, says Agterberg, \u201cbecause this kind of system fuels independent reporting. Who\u2019s siding with who? What conflicts are brewing? Often the articles focused more on the politics involved than the issues under discussion and their impact on students and staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

The emphasis on university politics made sense at a time when the executive board was dependent on councils that were very much involved in the decision-making process. This changed in the late 1990s, when Jo Ritzen became education minister with a mission to modernise how universities were governed.<\/p>\n

There were good reasons for this, Agterberg notes. \u201cThe minister had no real way of holding the executive boards accountable because in the end they didn\u2019t have that much power. In Leiden, non-university members of the board \u2013 they were part of the picture too \u2013 even forced the board to resign. This had to do with fraudulent dealings surrounding the construction of a new medical faculty building. I see that conflict as one of the catalysts for modernising the system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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