Radboud University does not want the Minister of Education to interfere with the University's independence. The Executive Board has made a statement to this effect in response to a debate in the House of Representatives, in which Minister Gouke Moes was asked to take a stand against lecturer and activist Harry Pettit.

‘Inappropriate’, that is the Executive Board’s view of outgoing Minister of Education Gouke Moes’ (BBB) promise that he would talk to Radboud University about utterances made by Harry Pettit on social media. Pettit is Assistant Professor in Human Geography at Radboud University.

“This kind of meddling affects the independence of our University”, the university administrators wrote in a statement. “The Executive Boards finds both the request (of a few MPs, Eds.) and the Minister’s response inappropriate.”

Contact

Moes made the promise in question during a debate in the House of Representatives on ‘combating anti-Semitism’. The debate concerned mainly research universities and universities of applied sciences, and some right-wing parties called on the Minister to intervene in response to utterances by Pettit.

For example, PVV member Maikel Boon stated that Radboud University was ‘failing utterly in its duty’ and loudly expressed his wish that ‘the Minister take a really hard stance and remove anti-Semitic lecturers from schools’. His plea garnered support from members of VVD and BBB.

Moes responded that he had limited powers to intervene and stressed the importance of academic freedom. However, at the end of the debate, he said he would ‘contact Radboud University very soon’ about Pettit.

Independence

The Executive Board is very disappointed by this promise and ‘denounces the House of Representatives’ interference with a University employee’. A spokesperson for the educational institution added, in response to a question from Vox: ‘The University is responsible for dealing with employees expressing their opinions on social media. As soon as parties from outside the University start interfering and try to set the rules of the game, we are no longer independent as a university.’

The fact that, of all people, Pettit is being targeted by right-wing politicians is not surprising. The social geographer is one of the loudest pro-Palestinian voices on the Nijmegen campus – if not within Dutch academia at large. He is often vocally critical of the genocide in Gaza, Radboud University’s collaboration with Israeli institutions, and police actions on campus. He is frequently found at demonstrations, and voices his opinions on social media on a daily basis.

However, his statements are not always uncontroversial: for instance, Pettit advocates for the dismantling of the state of Israel and believes Israelis should renounce their nationality. ‘Zionists frame this as a call for genocide on all Israelis or Jews, but that is not true. I never call for violence against people, but only hope that Zionists will change their opinion’, he said in a personal interview with Vox last summer.