Ronald Janse was appointed as the new dean of Law as of 1 March, following on from his predecessor Jan Smits. No disrespect meant to the man himself, the council was quick to emphasise on Thursday, what stings is that the members were only informed of his appointment by the Executive Board at a very late stage. The relevant information, such as Janse’s cv, was only sent an hour before a newly scheduled Teams meeting. “Only then did we know who it was, and everything was also only available in Dutch,” an international student member said in the council meeting.
According to UM council statutes, the Executive Board must meet with the Faculty Board and Faculty Council (the council does not formally have a vote in the matter) behind closed doors to hear from them on the proposed decision. And at “such a time that the meeting can still have a genuine influence on the decision-making”. That’s what hurts, said Nora Vissers (council member representing academic personnel) afterwards. “Not all the members were available to join the meeting, because it was announced so late. I had to cram it in between two teaching groups. It all felt very rushed.”
“There was a lot of pressure,” chair Rick Schumans also concluded during the meeting. “We have a right to be heard, but if we are not able to make ourselves heard, that hurts.” Later adding: “Yes, we were consulted when they drafted the job profile for the new dean, and about who we wanted in the appointment and advisory committee, but after the vacancy was posted, it was all very limited.” There will soon be a letter to the Executive Board with the council’s objections and questions why things were done in this manner.