Considering
- that police entered the TUE campus and arrested students of University Rebellion, who protested against offering a platform to Shell at the TUE Career Event;
- that TUE considers all employees, students and guests of TUE as collectively responsible for creating a safe study and working environment. This includes ‘active bystanders’ speaking up against unsafe practices, so as to prevent the normalization of such practices;
- that the exact timeline and events are partly unknown and interpretations may differ, so that we only can speak in general terms
Eindhoven History Lab staff wishes to state that:
In principle, police intervention compromises our campus as a safe space for studying and working. Such intervention can only be justified in case of direct threats to safety or critical university processes. Police intervention cannot be accepted as a means to silence (peaceful) students raising their voices on issues they care about. And yes, student protests may be experienced as irksome, may break minor rules and may transgress some boundaries. But this, we argue, is part of the learning process ánd a democratic right worthy of protection. (more info)