Is the new minister turning over a new leaf? When it comes to the pro-Palestinian protests at higher education institutions, not really. For the moment, Education Minister Eppo Bruins is continuing in the same vein as his predecessor. This is indicated by his response to a motion and answers to written questions.
It is reported that there have been more than forty thousand casualties in Gaza so far, due to the ongoing strikes by the Israeli army that followed the terrorist attack by Hamas on 7 October 2023. In higher education, activists demand that institutions cut the ties with Israel; otherwise they’d be complicit in genocide.
Those opposing the protests criticise the acts of vandalism and anti-Semitic statements. Part of the House of Representatives fears, for example, that Jewish students are particularly intimidated by the protests.
Monitoring
Before the summer, a majority asked the Minister of Education to report any education institution that “does not offer students freedom, safety or accessibility”. In the same calm tone as his predecessor Robbert Dijkgraaf used in these kinds of cases, Bruins outlined the problem with the motion. The minister is responsible for the system of higher education as a whole. He doesn’t have information about safety and accessibility per institution.
But as mentioned, a majority of the House of Representatives wants him to report on this. That’s why he’s going to look for a solution together with the institutions: monitoring that provides insight into safety and accessibility, “while endeavouring to keep things feasible and to limit the administrative burden for institutions”.
Just like his predecessor, he appears to be intent on protecting the institutions for interference by worked-up MPs. This is also indicated by his answers to parliamentary questions about protests at the Rietveld Academy, a university of applied sciences for fine arts in Amsterdam.
Rietveld
Activists occupied a space in the university of applied sciences for weeks. At some point, a banner had also been put up showing the controversial slogan ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’. Critics interpret that slogan as a call to wipe Israel off the map. It is even said that a Hamas brochure was distributed in the cafeteria.
The board doesn’t know anything about that brochure, Bruins says in response to questions on the subject, and the banner has been removed. “I can fully imagine that students feel unsafe due to the use of these slogans”, he remarks. “I am very sorry about this.” He expects the board to be mindful of this.
But for the rest, the students complied with the rules of the academy. “The students voluntarily left again when the academy asked them to in the context of the summer closure.”
A controversial directive on demonstrations issued by the higher education institutions says that occupations aren’t permitted, but Bruins explains that boards may deviate from this. “It is up to the board to judge what is necessary to guarantee safety in any specific local situation.”
The board of the Rietveld Academy let the occupiers be, for one thing because ending demonstrations at other institutions was sometimes accompanied by violence. “This was not my call to make”, writes Bruins.
“Keep going forward”
He lists a number of promises Dijkgraaf made about safeguarding the social safety of Jewish students and staff. For example, it is being studied whether the complaints procedures are sufficiently attuned to reports of anti-Semitism. “I intend to keep going forward with these plans.”
In short, these answers indicate he is standing up for protesters, board members and those who find their interests compromised. Whatever changes the arrival of the new government will bring, some things may well stay the same.
Impossible for Eppo Bruins to have a different approach to the protests against genocide since he’s a Zionist. He is a member of the Christians for Israel organization. Proving once again that this is not an anti-Jewish series of protests, but an anti-Zionist series of protests. Israel is currently committing genocide in Gaza. It’s nice to know the new minister of education of the Netherlands supports this. Highly reassuring to incoming students!