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Protest in TU Delft Bouwkunde against Neoliberal Education
Bouwkunde Action Group - 31.10.2009 01:14
On Thursday October 15th Bouwkunde Action Group organized an agit-prop campaign directed at the Faculty and University bad management as well as to the Government, and took advantage of the presence of suits and journalists attending the expensive and ostentatious inauguration of Oost Serre, hoping to tap into the attention BK received that day. We would like to take advantage of this opportunity to communicate directly with the body of students of the Netherlands and to raise consciousness regarding current events affecting our studies and the future of our disciplines.
Security Personal violating the students rights to free speach
On Thursday October 15th some of you may have seen posters signed by Bouwkunde Action Group on the faculty announcement boards. The agit-prop was directed at the Faculty and University management as well as to the Government, and took advantage of the presence of suits and journalists attending the expensive inauguration of Oost Serre, hoping to tap into the attention BK received that day. We would like to take advantage of this opportunity to communicate directly with the body of students and to raise consciousness regarding current events affecting our studies and the future of our disciplines.
1. Trust is one of the pillars of our society. We place our money in banks because we trust them. When our trust is lost, we withdraw the money, unless we trust the government will guarantee it.
2. When we go to study, we trust the Education Ministry and the University to offer the necessary education in the field we choose. We trust the faculty will supply the best and most dedicated teachers available, the necessary facilities and framework.
3. We do not trust the Government, the University or the Faculty anymore: we see changes underway which are focused at cost cutting and streamlining education, we see a reduction of the teaching staff, an abandonment of content, a managerial focus on budget, growing numbers of students, and we no longer believe the university or faculty is interested in providing the best possible education!
4. We understand the current cuts are the consequence of years of bad management. They are brute cost saving measurements that intend to stabilize the institution at the expense of education and research, emulating neoliberal policies and violating the social contract.
5. If we, as students, are paying the price of bad management – which seems to be one of the excuses circulating – then the question must be asked – WHY? Why does our education need to suffer because of bad management? Where is the responsibility (of the faculty, of the university, of the government)?
6. We, as students, have kept a distance from the budget and bad management disputes in the faculty of which we know little.
7. Now we see that we are the ones who will pay the price for errors and mistakes of bad management and questionable policies of the Government and University. Therefore we have formed the Bouwkunde Action Group to protest the situation.
8. Let us recite some of the conditions which we are already encountering:
A. More students per year and per class
B. Less teachers
C. Less support staff (e-point opening times, secretaries etc)
D. Less engaged and young teachers
E. Less women and foreigners as teachers
F. Less elective courses
G. Limited amount of graduation studios
H. Ridiculous 15 minutes per student per week with studio teacher.
I. Overworked Teachers pre-occupied with other tasks (support tasks etc)
J. Insufficient and inadequate facilities.
K. Stagnant curricula
9. TUDelft, according to some international university ratings, is rated 15th best university in the world within technologies. Such ratings will not be maintained by disinvestment in education and research.
10. Instead of endless discussions about budget, we demand vision. We demand quality teachers. We need a rethinking of curriculum directed by quality and relevance rather than by managerial and budget considerations.
11. Student organizations, which are supposed to represent our interests, accommodate the demands of the bad management rather than of the students. This in our view is called student repression.
12. Discussions about our concerns are relegated to obscure committees with little influence and no voice.
13. The teacher evaluations we have filled out in the last years seem to have amounted to nothing, with some of the most appreciated teachers losing their positions due to the budget crunch.
14. The way the faculty handled our protest - security guards ordered to stop us from putting up posters, trying to search our bags and removing posters from dedicated! poster areas - exemplifies the direction bad management is heading: a faculty where coherence and image is protected at all cost and any form of dissent is directly seen as a threat!
15. As we do not trust the institution – we do not trust it will be FAIR – we prefer to remain anonymous at this stage. If you subscribe to the points above, identities are of less importance.
16. If you agree with our views, please stop being afraid of bad management and subscribe to our mailing list at  BouwkundeActionGroup@gmail.com. Together we will prepare a public petition for straight dialogue, responsibility and transparency to the people in charge of this appalling situation.
 E-Mail: bouwkundeactiongroup@gmail.com  Website: http://bouwkundeactiongroup.blogspot.com
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| Lees meer over: kunst, cultuur en muziek LINKS | | aanvullingen | | Some ideas | Autonomous - 31.10.2009 01:39
Check:
www.universitaireactivisten.nl
www.kritischestudenten.nl
And if you support the squating movement please inform your fellow students on the options of the squat weekend and get connected
to the national movement of choices to critize and inform the public
about problems like on your university.
In Solidarity!
No Justice,
No Peace!
| | .. | nn - 31.10.2009 06:37
even een tip voor de auteur (wat mij betreft kan deze bijdrage ook na lezing verwijderd worden): ik snap de stellingen volledig, maar wat de aanleiding is van het nieuwsbericht, of wat het te maken heeft met die inauguratie is volstrekt onduidelijk, en dit blijft een nieuwssite, niet een open podium voor manifesten. daarnaast verwelkom ik natuurlijk elke kritische blik, op elk terrein, dus begrijp me niet verkeerd
met vriendelijke groet,
ook een kritische blik
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