Vindicat had to submit a critical self-reflection to the accreditation committee by 1 March, and the student association met the deadline, says committee president Martin Sitalsing. ‘We will respond to it before the end of the month’, he says.
According to Sitalsing, the fuss last week after a Vindicat member said on Facebook that people in the association had often called her a slut, whore and a cheap bitch will not influence the committee’s final report. ‘But it is important that we judge whether this issue is sufficiently addressed in the plans and the approach’, the president says.
Seriously injured
Vindicat is the first association to be evaluated by the accreditation committee. Reason for the committee was the uproar after it became known that an aspiring Vindicat member was seriously injured during the orientation in August after another member stood on his head.
The RUG initially felt that the association should handle the situation themselves, but changed their mind when education minister Bussemaker called their reaction ‘completely insufficient’. Immediately afterwards, the Board of Directors announced that hazing in Groningen would be abolished. From now on, student associations should organise ‘light introduction periods’, the Board of Directors recently wrote in a memo sent to the University Council.
Albertus
After the committee finishes the report on Vindicat, it is Albertus Magnus’ turn. The association had ignored the RUG’s earlier requests to cooperate in the foundation of the accreditation committee. Albertus set up its own committee which will critically assess its own initiation period.