Social safety is not something the Vrijmoedige Studentepartij (VSP), translatable to ‘Bold Student Party’ cares much about, according to a report by the election committee of the university student council about a series of incidents surrounding the student council elections in April. According to the report, VSP members have spat on and intimidated, insulted and harassed people around campus. VSP founder Marlon U. is also said to have tried to buy votes.
The VSP became downright aggressive after the party’s campaign material disappeared. U. in particular is said to have let himself go. He is said to have accused people from the student party ChangeVU of theft, to have thrown a bottle of water at a student, to have cursed at and threatened people and to have hit a locker so hard that his hand bled and to have kicked over a table.
Sexually harassed
A group of VSP members, including U., is said to have harassed people in the Studentendok while smoking and drinking alcohol.
On the day of the election results, which turned out rather disappointing for the VSP, U. and other VSP members are said to have misbehaved so badly in Bar Boele that they were asked to leave the café. In the Studentendok, they are said to have destroyed a plant, punched a hole in a wall and scrawled ‘Kanker ChangeVU’ on another wall, translatable to ‘Fucking ChangeVU’. People are said to have been sexually harassed and people in the vicinity of the Pride library were also harassed, including by U..
Gays and Islam
During the election week, U. walked around campus with a cameraman and interviewer from broadcaster Powned, where he gained access to the Pride library and the Green Office without permission in order to discredit the VU as a woke university. The video report by Powned, which is online, also shows students being harassed. U. shows books that he thinks are weird, including books about homosexuality and Islam and being queer in the Catholic Church.
The report speaks of a ‘very disturbing pattern of increasing aggression, intimidation and misconduct by VSP members, especially U., and mainly directed against ChangeVU and people affiliated with Pride.
Reign of terror
U. practically single-handedly exercises a true reign of terror on campus. Everyone Ad Valvas has spoken to is afraid of him. “He is very aggressive,” according to one of them. “I don’t dare say anything to him for fear that he will do something to me,” says a sturdy young man who looks o be two heads taller than U.. No one wants to be named in this article. Ad Valvas has seen footage of a kicking and raging U. who apparently doesn’t care about the people around him. He called a woman behind the counter of Studentend0k names, including “cancer whore,” a witness confirms. He also called another woman names. “In Dutch, which I don’t understand,” she says. “But someone else who was present and did understand what U. said refused to translate because according to him the name-calling was very dehumanizing.”
Employees of Bar Boele confirm that U. and other VSP members were removed from the bar by security guards. This happened on several occasions, they say. U. and company harassed other guests, filmed them and the staff and shouted “discriminatory things,” according to one employee. She says that U. tore up a paper Pride flag that was planted in one of the plant pots on the bar. “They shouted that they were being discriminated against by us, while we claim to be an inclusive bar. But they were removed because of their aggressive behavior, not because of who they are,” says the employee.
Knives and bombs
The authors of the report complain that the VU is not taking any action against U., while the report has been on the desk of the Executive Board for more than a month and a half. Several VU employees, including security guards and other VU-employees of are said to have witnessed U.’s outbursts and tried to calm him down. “During the election week, it was always the same security guard who had to intervene because of U.,” says a witness. “At a certain point he was completely fed up with him.”
Two individuals who intimidated people at the Pride library with threatening language about knives and bombs have been apprehended and identified by security guards. They were not VSP members, says one of the report’s authors. “But I can’t separate this from the campaign against LGBTI people that the VSP has been waging for so long,” she says.
“In all honesty, I want him removed from the VU,” says one of the reporters. “He scares people, he makes the entire VU unsafe. I don’t believe that nothing could be done against someone who misbehaves so badly. I’ve heard of people who have been removed from campus for less.”
U.’s behavior is not something new. He has been intimidating students, especially LGBTI+ people, for over a year now. During the 2024 student council elections, there were also conflicts between the VSP and ChangeVU, partly because of the distribution of anti-LGBTI stickers. U has also walked around campus with a camera crew before, from broadcaster Ongehoord Nederland, to show how woke the VU was. Students, especially LGBTI+ people, were then also filmed without permission. At least one person stayed away from the VU campus for months after his incident. Especially LGBTI+ people seem to arouse the wrath of the VSP and especially that of U..
Painful and unacceptable
Ad Valvas has approached various institutions on campus for a response and was rejected by the security coordinator and the Facility Campus Organization. The Executive Board states that “due to privacy regulations” it cannot make statements about individuals but finds the experiences described in this article “serious, painful and unacceptable”. “As the Executive Board, we feel responsible for ensuring a safe and inclusive environment where everyone, regardless of background, experience or perspective, feels safe to be who they want to be and feels free to speak out. We are in contact with those involved and are carefully investigating the matter.”
The VSP has not responded to a request for contact. U. wanted to read the report first before reacting, was sent a concept version of this article and has not responded since.