The student campuses in Amsterdam are not safe, student union ASVA warns. The union received 39 reports of incidents over the last two months alone, mainly involving incidents of violence, sexual offenses, robbery and burglary, AD reports.
A large part of these reports came from the Spinoza Campus and the nearby apartment buildings Echtenstein and Bergwijkdreef in Amsterdam Zuidoost. Students also feel unsafe at the campus on the NDSM wharf, according to ASVA.
Amsterdam student union ASVA opened a hotline for unsafe situations "on and around student campuses". This follows a series of violent incidents in a short tie, especially around the Spinoza Campus in Bijlmer, spokesperson Alba van Vliet said to NH Nieuws.
A 35-year-old woman was recently stabbed to death near the Spinoza Campus. Two students were pulled off their bikes. And another student was hit by a stray bullet while she was watching television in her room, according to ASVA.
The police broke up a student protest at the University of Amsterdam on Friday night. According to the students, the police used batons, pepper spray and police dogs on them and several students sustained injuries. GroenLinks parliamentarian Zihni Ozdil wants an explanation from Education Minister Ingrid van Engelshoven, Het Parool reports.
Studying in Amsterdam seems to be becoming increasingly only for the "white elite", according to student union ASVA and Amsterdam United. Especially young people with financially less well-off parents and young people with a non-Western background have a hard time getting into higher education in the Dutch capital, Metro Nieuws reports.
"Education is increasingly only for the white elite. Action must be taken now", Henriette Hoogervorst, chairman of ASVA, said to the newspaper.
A wide range of reactions poured out after University of Amsterdam Executive Board chairman Louise Gunning announced she would resign her position. “[Gunning’s] departure was inevitable. Good first step in restoring peace at the UvA,” the ASVA student union said on Twitter.
