However, there are a few caveats and exceptions: staff members must consult with their supervisors beforehand, and students must attend any previously scheduled exams, mandatory practicals or patient work. Everyone else is free to head to Utrecht, where the Federation of Dutch Trade Unions (FNV) and the General Education Union (AOb), alongside the academic protest movement WOinActie, are organising a protest march from Moreelsepark to Domplein.
How staff and students will get to Utrecht is another matter. While staff members can claim their second-class train fare, no arrangements have been made for students without a free student travel pass, says spokesperson Koen Augustijn. “From an administrative point of view, it may be quite difficult to allow them to claim travel expenses; we still need to look into that.”
Perhaps the bus is an option. Some faculties are providing bus transportation; at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and the School of Business and Economics it is already a certainty (provided there are enough applications). “And the Faculty of Science and Engineering is working on it.”
It remains uncertain how many UM staff members and students will make the journey to Utrecht on 14 November, but Augustijn is optimistic. “We’re hearing from quite a few people that they’re interested in attending.”