The University of Groningen and the Hanze University of Applied Sciences are cutting financial ties with student association Vindicat.
RTV Noord reports that the student association will officially lose their board financing. “We were set to evaluate whether the members of the association’s board would receive funding, but that was on the condition that there were no new incidents”, says UG rector Elmer Sterken. “Sadly, that is not the case, and they did not even report that an incident had occurred.”
Members of the boards of student associations can receive up to 2,665 euros in financial support from the university’s “profileringsfonds”. The money is meant to help compensate for incurred delays in their studies due to their responsibilities on the board. Vindicat receives roughly 33,000 euros from the fund.
Vindicat’s university funding had already been suspended in September in response to altercations at a sushi restaurant and a rugby club in Groningen. Members of Vindicat allegedly caused serious damage in the restaurant and left a big mess behind at the GSRC rugby club and GRC football club.
The association would have had their funding restored at the end of this academic year if no further incidents had occurred. However, it was revealed last week that a member of the fraternity was beaten up in December by two fellow members. The association failed to notify the university about the incident.
“The board accepts responsibility for the mistakes we have made and we hope that we can convince the academic institutions to reconsider”, read a statement from the association.
