OPEN LETTER FROM ACADEMIC STAFF AGAINST LEGAL THREATS ON OCCUPIERS!!

The Executive Board of the UvA (CvB) has raised the stakes: in addition to seeking a preliminary injunction from the court against the occupying students, according to Folia* the CvB now threatens to seek a penalty of up to 100,000 Euro against anyone who enters, or is in, the Bungehuis without permission after the ruling. This is a form of blackmail against a non-violent student protest that seems unacceptable to us. The aims and methods of the protest are, of course, not shared by everyone but occupying a university building is a time-honored part of the repertoire of student protest, and while it may be understandable that the university tries to use legal means to get the occupying students out of the building, resorting to criminalization and financial threats of such magnitude against them is disproportionate and unjustifiable.
We hereby publicly declare that we have also been, and/or will be, for shorter or longer time, in the Bungehuis during the occupation. We ask the Board to reconsider its threat against student and other members of the university community it claims to represent and guide – or else to act consistently.

List of signators here: http://humanitiesrally.com/

[if you would like your signature to be added please email r.celikates@uva.nl]

More:  De Nieuwe Universiteit                 

* http://www.foliaweb.nl/organisatie/uva-eist-ontruiming-en-ton-per-dag-dat-bezetters-blijven/