{"id":151971,"date":"2023-03-16T10:53:03","date_gmt":"2023-03-16T09:53:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=151971"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:26:41","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:26:41","slug":"utrecht-university-wants-to-dismiss-professor-for-inappropriate-behaviour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2023\/03\/16\/utrecht-university-wants-to-dismiss-professor-for-inappropriate-behaviour\/","title":{"rendered":"Utrecht University wants to dismiss professor for inappropriate behaviour"},"content":{"rendered":"

A professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences at Utrecht University has been suspended after 17 reports of inappropriate behaviour. The university has started the dismissal procedure.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Utrecht University\u2019s Academy Building. <\/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\tNiek Verlaan<\/span>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Because of the \u2018severity, nature and magnitude\u2019 of the reports, the Executive Board wants to dismiss the professor, according to university newspaper DUB<\/em><\/a>. The name of the professor has not been revealed.<\/p>\n

Last year, confidential counsellors passed on reports about the professor to the Executive Board. An independent committee then investigated the matter. What exactly occurred has not been disclosed. According to daily newspaper AD<\/em>, no report<\/a> has been made to the police.<\/p>\n

The dismissal is the latest in a series of reports of inappropriate behaviour in the academic world. Last October, news emerged about a professor of astronomy at Leiden University and a professor of educational theory at KU Leuven in Belgium.<\/p>\n

Pattern<\/h2>

But the issue has been around for a lot longer. Shortly before the summer of 2022, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) published an advisory report on how to tackle social safety in academia. The committee was chaired by behavioural scientist Naomi Ellemers, who is also a professor at Utrecht University, where a professor has now been suspended.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese problems are never isolated incidents\u201d, Ellemers said in an interview<\/a> last October. \u201cTime after time you hear that it\u2019s part of a pattern that has been known for a long while.\u201d She hoped that the universities would finally reach a tipping point. \u201cWe have to clear out the attic and deal with cases that have been going on for years; after that, we also have to look to the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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

Read more<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t