Much of the Gemeente thinks that the organisation deserves far harsher punishment
Translated by Thomas Ansell
As reported by the GIC, the posho student organisation Vindicat has decided to cancel all parties and events planned for the rest of the year. This comes following a party that got violently out of hand last weekend, where besuited Vindicaters ended up pelting buses with objects and the police having to restore order in the Kardinge neighbourhood.
The organisation is now speaking to all of its various stakeholders, and hopes to draw up a series of regulations to help gently push it back on course- rather than accept any proper punishment from the RUG, Hanze or Gemeente.
Mayor Koen Schuiling had issued the lightest possible tap on the wrist yesterday by not allowing a permit for the next Vindicat party scheduled. Residents of the Kaap Hoorn neighbourhood, where the ‘sailing party’ had been organised must have collectively sighed their relief.
However, most Groningen council members think that the ‘punishment’ of drawing up a new code of conduct is the lightest possible way of making sure that Vindicat members remember that they do not own the city of Groningen.
The head of the Socialist Party, Jimmy Dijk, says: “we’ve seen this pattern before. First, Vindicat apologises, then people come up with some perfunctory punishment, then the same antisocial behaviour begins again a few months later.”
The SP thinks that the City of Groningen should, in fact, move Vindicat from its prominent position in the city. This could, for example, include banning the organisation from holding its parties on Gemeente grounds, shutting its clubhouse thanks to continual disturbances to neighbours, and making its bar conform to standards expected of other bars and pubs.
Indeed, the SP argues that Vindicat is actively damaging the reputation of the city for students; and on Wednesday the party will present its arguments for a city without Vindicat (we can only dream).
Meanwhile, the SP is also drawing attention to the cosy relationship that the Mayor seems to have with the organisation. “There is no other organisation or association that gets quite the same special treatment. This should stop. It’s an intransigent organisation that doesn’t want to improve itself and has a truly sick internal culture. So treat it that way”, says Dijk.
Image via Neal Johnson on Unsplash
