Student society leader resigns over extreme misogynistic speeches

The rector of the Amsterdam student association ASC/AVSV, Heleen Vos, has announced her resignation following misogynistic comments members made during a lustrum celebration. "As rector, I cannot and will no longer continue to take responsibility for incidents and behavior of members that exceed my personal limit," Vos wrote in a statement on the association's website.

During the controversial speeches, male members referred to women as "semen buckets" and "nothing more than a whore." The men also mentioned breaking women's necks "to stick their dicks in." As a result, Vos announced on Monday that there would be an investigation into the statements. Later in the week, new video footage of the event fueled mounting criticism of the student association, which had already undergone a hazing scandal in 2021.

Vos said she was heartened by the number of members, mostly women, who had come forward after the incident to express their disapproval. "What I see in this crisis, in the exchange between members, is that a movement has started," she wrote in her resignation letter. However, the culture shift that she had hoped to bring to fruition will now be the members' responsibility, she said.

"Despite my full efforts...it appears that there is a need among a group of members within the ASC/AVSV to continue to go against the basic principles of the culture change process," Vos explained in the letter.