Message concerning social safety

On Wednesday evening, an article was published in the Dutch newspaper NRC about a case of an unsafe situation at the Faculty of Humanities. We find this distressing, but it is also good that the problems which the article deals with are brought to light. First and foremost, we want to offer students and staff a safe environment for their studies and work. We therefore take signals about undesirable behaviour very seriously. After we received new signals in this case this autumn, an external investigation has been launched. The lecturer has been relieved of all teaching duties at the University while this investigation is ongoing. We believe it is important to deal with this carefully and to maintain confidentiality with a view to the privacy of the parties involved and the proper course of the investigation.