The university Board said that they cannot disclose who the dismissed academic is due to privacy law, but multiple sources have confirmed to Mare that it is a professor of astronomy. University spokesperson Caroline van Overbeeke declined to confirm.

The transgressive behaviour had been taking place for years, until last May, when four female employees reported the matter to the dean. Several witnesses came forward as well, including male witnesses. The dean proceeded to inform the Board that same day. Shortly afterwards, the Board commissioned an investigation by the independent Complaints Committee.

The name of the professor in question was not reported. It is also unclear which institute and faculty he was involved with. With the start of the committee’s investigation, the professor was suspended.

On Tuesday, the Executive Board decided that he would not be allowed to return to the university, supervise PhD candidates or use the facilities provided to professors and professors emeritus.

SHOCKED

The Executive Board is shocked by the complaints and the findings of the Complaints Committee.

‘We are deeply saddened by the fact that these complaints have persisted for so long and that this behaviour has been able to cause harm to so many people’, says the president of the Executive Board Annetje Ottow in the press report.

SYSTEMATIC ABUSE

On Tuesday night, she revealed in a discussion with Mare that there was evidence of ‘abuse of power and undesirable behaviour’. This involved ‘a systematic pattern of slander, abuse of power, gender discrimination, public humiliation and the constant threat of damage to the complainants’ professional careers’.

The professor has also made ‘sexually-charged’ comments and, in one instance, the committee found that he had made ‘unwanted physical approaches’ to an employee.

Ottow would not comment on what the professor had to say in the conversation with the Executive Board and later with the Complaints Committee. However, she does say that the committee proceeded with ‘extreme care’ during its investigation. For instance, not only the complainants’ and witnesses’ reports were used to establish the truth, but also written documents.

Based on those findings and the conversation with the professor, the decision was made to permanently remove him from the university. ‘He will never ever be welcome at this university again’, Ottow said.

NO DISMISSAL

Still, this is not the same thing as an official dismissal. ‘Since the committee has also found that the academic integrity of this professor is indisputable, there are no grounds to strip him of his professorship.’ This means he will still be able to conduct research for the university, but will no longer be allowed to teach or show up in the workplace. (See below for more information)

In her press statement, Ottow said she is ‘taking a critical look’ at ‘the lessons we as a university need to learn from this and at how we can ensure that in the future, undesirable behaviour is addressed at an earlier stage, also in the form of prevention’. To this end, it is ‘important that people do not feel impeded in their ability to report and discuss undesirable behaviour. Identifying the undesirable behaviour and removing the professor is not enough. We’re already doing a lot, but we really need to do even better.’

‘I’m mortified’, she added on Tuesday night. ‘I was deeply saddened after talking to the complainants and I feel terrible about the fact that this has happened. I’m going to be frank: the organisation should have recognised this earlier and taken action sooner. The point is that as an employer, you have an obligation to provide a safe working environment and you have to organise the system accordingly. Simply establishing a reporting desk for people to contact is not enough. We’ll be working with the deans to see if we’re alert enough to this kind of behaviour and to find out how we can improve safety.’