BM88: Against increasing surveillance of the student population in Dutch HEI’s

Since the start of this academic year, there’s been a worrying increase of overt and covert security measures in several HEIs in the Netherlands, targeting both students activists and students mistakenly being profiled as such. Reported incidents include the deployment of external security personnel in plain clothes; increased security presence at events, meetings, or gatherings where location details have been shared; security taking pictures of student cards or students themselves; security listening in on private conversations or organized gatherings; and one particularly egregious report of a student’s bag being searched by security while they took a bathroom break. Several privacy experts in the Netherlands have spoken out against them and highlighted their infringement on the right to privacy.

It is concerning that there is a total lack of transparency from the administrations about the increased security measures they’ve implemented. All the known cases mentioned above were reported and amassed by students themselves. This makes it impossible to know the full scope in the new security measures at this moment, despite their infringement on the right to privacy of individuals on campus. In the case of plain-clothes security personnel being deployed, student representatives in university councils were also not properly included in the decision-making process regarding these measures, neither were they officially informed about the rationale behind them.

These covert and overt security measures do not contribute to safer campuses. On the contrary, they contribute to an atmosphere of intimidation and suspicion, and harm the trust of students in the administrations that are supposedly there to support them. Students have reported opting out of going to class or going to the campus. They feel targeted and singled out for their political convictions, as well being hindered in organizing themselves and others. This goes directly against the open debate universities are supposed to foster and enable.

Therefore, we call onto the executive boards of Dutch HEIs to:

• Include student representatives in the decision-making process when increased security is considered and be reactive when student representatives are voicing their concerns regarding these matters
• Be transparent in the decision-making, implementation and evaluation of increased security measures towards students and staff.
• Immediately stop covertly surveying students and roll back any measures that infringe on the right to privacy.

Proposers: LSVb

Seconders: USI, ISO