Tjeerd Andringa, lecturer at the University College Groningen (UCG) has been banned from teaching until further notice because of the conspiracy theories he advocated in his classes. The UG is starting an independent investigation into the matter.
The university announced this on Friday, after UKrant published an article about Andringa teaching first-year students about conspiracy theories.
‘Following the situation that arose around the subject Systems View of Life at the University of Groningen’s UCG faculty, it has been decided to initiate an independent follow-up investigation into the matter.’, the UG writes in a statement published on its website.
‘It has become evident that, as a result of the current situation, Tjeerd Andringa (the lecturer involved) will not be able to teach at a level that both parties deem necessary. It has therefore been decided that he will not teach at the UCG during the investigation, pending the outcome.’
Rigorous
UG spokesperson says it’s unclear when exactly the investigation will start, and who will be on the investigative committee. ‘It’s only been two days since the article was published and we want to be rigorous in our approach. But we’d prefer to finish the investigation before the academic year is up.’
According to the curriculum, in the course Systems View of Life, Andringa was teaching first-year students critical thinking skills, but students say the information he used was too one-sided. He also tried to convince students of his own ‘alternative truth’ and taught them conspiracy theories.
Autism and Covid
He openly proclaimed his doubts about 9/11, often proclaimed there was a connection between autism and vaccines, questioned the cause of climate change, and talked about ‘the dominance of the Jew’. Based on students’ complaints, the UCG evaluated his classes, ultimately deciding to remove them from the curriculum.
In addition to Systems View of Life, he also taught a follow-up course for second-year students called Project Year 2, which he finished last semester. The spokesperson couldn’t say what other courses he taught.