{"id":171302,"date":"2024-09-05T13:57:20","date_gmt":"2024-09-05T11:57:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=171302"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:27:28","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:27:28","slug":"chair-executive-board-bids-farewell-after-turbulent-years-provocative-protest-is-part-and-parcel-of-a-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2024\/09\/05\/chair-executive-board-bids-farewell-after-turbulent-years-provocative-protest-is-part-and-parcel-of-a-university\/","title":{"rendered":"Chair Executive Board bids farewell after turbulent years: \u2018Provocative protest is part and parcel of a university\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ed Brinksma\u2019s departure as chair of the Executive Board of the EUR this week also means the end of his academic career. A conversation about the highs and lows of four turbulent years as Executive Board chair. “For the first time in sixteen years, I am regaining more control over my life.” <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Departing chair Ed Brinksma with his wife at his farewell reception.<\/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>

He did not apply for the new employee card; too much hassle for the few days that are left. Plus, the security guard downstairs in the Erasmus building knows <\/span>him, and<\/span> is even a bit of a fan of his. \u201cI regularly made small talk. Before the holiday period, he even wanted to take a picture with me because he thought he might not see me again before I left.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Outgoing chair Ed Brinksma (right) receives the Ad Fontes medal, Erasmus University's highest award, from chairman of Supervisory Board Jaap Winter.<\/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\tArie Kers<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

Although these past four years are quite a short period of time in the context of his entire academic and administrative career, EUR is \u2018dear to his heart\u2019, Brinksma says on one of his last days as Executive Board chair. Still, it was time to go. Not only did he hit retirement age, the home front was calling to him as well. He has a disabled son he wants to dedicate more time to, a 90-year-old mother, and his wife who is already retired, is also entitled to a little more of his time. \u201cThe job as president of an Executive Board is not particularly compatible with informal care. I believe it should be possible, but the world has become too busy.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And busy it certainly was. During his time on the board, Brinksma focused on forging new cooperative arrangements to strengthen the EUR\u2019s position in the Netherlands and in Europe, which meant a lot of travelling and therefore a lot of time away from home.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Modest social scientists\u00a0<\/h2>

He is proud of the place he has given Erasmus University in the partnership with TU Delft and Erasmus MC in the so-called <\/span>convergence<\/span><\/i> between the three institutions. When he took office, the university teaching hospital and the Delft techies in particular seemed to like the closer cooperation; Erasmus University took a more modest stance.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018I found a lot of confusion among people from the social sciences who were nonetheless taking a kind of background position\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

Brinksma was surprised by that attitude: \u201cEUR has a self-confident image to the outside world; it walks the talk. But the funny thing was that I found a lot of confusion among people from the social sciences who were nonetheless taking a kind of background position. I was surprised that people saw themselves in a kind of side-car role in that partnership: \u2018I\u2019m sure those doctors and engineers will probably be calling the shots and there will be no room for us\u2026\u2019 I really had to convince them: \u2018You guys are great and we can\u2019t do it without the social sciences, so take on that role\u2019.\u201d <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, social sciences are necessary, he believes, when it comes to realising research with social impact. \u201cJust look at the pandemic: the technology side was successful with the vaccines, but policy on the behavioural side failed. That\u2019s why I came to this university as a STEM student: I have become convinced that the social sciences are indispensable for real innovation.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ed on Tour<\/h2>

Another highlight for the outgoing Executive Board president, something that many staff and students may have missed, is the strengthening of the UNIC cooperative arrangement, in which the EUR joins forces with 10 universities from other <\/span>post-industrial cities<\/span><\/a> in Europe to be in a stronger position when making applications for research funds, among other things, and exchanging best practices in many areas.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Brinksma with chairman of the Supervisory Board Jaap Winter (left) at the farewell reception.<\/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>

When travel was allowed again after the pandemic, Brinksma \u2013 under the title \u2018Ed on Tour\u2019 \u2013 visited all partner universities to strengthen ties and take cooperation to the next level. \u201cThe idea of UNIC came from an observation by President Macron, who called for better cooperation between universities in continental Europe to counterbalance the dominance of British and American universities in the rankings. The distribution of research money will increasingly be linked to these kinds of networks.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

No police state\u00a0<\/h2>

But the past four years have also been characterised by intense events for Brinksma, with the outside world entering the university \u2013 sometimes violently. Brinksma does not have to think long about the biggest low: the attack in September last year at Erasmus MC in which a lecturer was also killed. \u201cThe day after the attack, we had a walk-in where I spoke to two students who had come across the perpetrator with the gun in his hand. That was intense. You think: this is something that happens in America, not here.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Asked if the university should have done something differently, or is doing something differently now, he said: \u201cWe are the soft underbelly of society and you simply cannot lock down your hospital or university, that is not the solution. You have to keep your eyes and ears open for all sorts of elements of alienation and radicalisation, but there are no guarantees. You don\u2019t want to turn the university into a police state.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This last remark inevitably leads to another difficult point in Brinksma\u2019s tenure on the board: three times the police intervened on campus during an occupation by students, an unprecedented occurrence. Twice, climate activists were removed from the buildings they occupied and most recently, the riot police was present en masse to clear the tent camp of pro-Palestine protesters. In which, incidentally, the protesters themselves left the campus without the police really having to intervene.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\t

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Lees meer<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t