This is what Tragos and Circumflex wrote in a joint press release on their websites on Tuesday evening.
Last Friday, the university announced that over the last months, several incidents have taken place at Tragos and Circumflex that crossed the boundaries of “physical safety and personal integrity”. The incidents include “fainting during activities, over-exhaustion, and a panic attack” during introduction activities for new members. According to UM, the incidents were either not reported at all or not reported in a timely fashion (within 24 hours), which is against the Code of Conduct of the Introduction Period: an official document, signed by the student associations every year, which contains rules regarding alcohol consumption, sleep, etc.
It is remarkable that Tragos and Circumflex now claim to be unaware of the incidents, as the university explicitly states that these came to light during talks with the chairs of the associations. The latter have not yet responded to Observant's requests for further clarification.
UM’s decision means that Circumflex and Tragos will no longer be eligible to use UM facilities and won’t be allowed to take part in INKOM – traditionally, a time to recruit new members. There are also financial consequences: the associations can no longer rely on money from UM, including the so-called ‘administrative months’ (financial compensation for the study delay built up by board members), which for both associations amounts to a maximum of 30 thousand euros per year.
How long Tragos and Circumflex will have to face the consequences is still unclear. First, the Student Service Centre (SSC) will start discussions, not only with the associations themselves, but also with “the community and experts”. After several incidents in previous years, UM is now fed up with history repeating itself and said that “working with codes of conduct mostly seemed to be a case of ‘papering over the cracks’”.
Making the code of conduct even more strict is not an option, SSC director Margriet Schreuders told Observant last Friday. “Then the other associations will also be affected. We don’t want that negativity, we’re trying to find a positive approach, more in line with the times. I think that our community can come up with enough groundbreaking and innovative ideas.” How long that might take is unknown. “But it’s not going to be a question of years. We feel the pressure to tackle this quickly. We want a solution sooner rather than later.”