Arrests made after Dutch students ‘traumatised’ by online ratings

Female students in the Netherlands “traumatised” by discovering that they had been named in an online document rating them on their appearance and making explicit comments about their sexual activity have begun legal action against the list’s creators.

The “bangalijst”, in the form of a PowerPoint presentation, was created by members of the Utrecht Student Corps (USC), an all-male society comprising students from various universities. The presentation included photographs of about 30 first-year members of the Utrecht Female Student Association/New Association of Female Students in Utrecht (UVSV/NVVSU), with some subjects further identified by their address and phone number.

After the presentation circulated on social media, USC suspended its creators, who have not been publicly identified, “for an indefinite period”, stating that a “definitive punishment” would be issued once the association had a “better picture of the situation”. The suspended members would also be barred from an upcoming skiing trip, USC said. Late last week, two men, both in their twenties, were arrested in connection with the incident.

Utrecht University and the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht suspended subsidies to USC for the remainder of 2024, calling on the society to issue public apologies and mandating that its board draft and implement a plan “aimed at improving social safety”.

“What happened exceeds the limits of what is permissible. We are an inclusive university, where all our students should feel safe,” the Utrecht University rector Henk Kummeling said in a statement.

Wilma Scholte op Reimer, president of the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, added, “The sanctions clearly indicate that changing the unacceptable culture at USC is a prerequisite for the future. We are closely monitoring this together with UU.”

Last week, a second “bangalijst” featuring female Utrecht students began to circulate, attributed in a foreword to USC members. In a statement, the association said there were “concrete indications” that the list had not been created by its members, adding that USC had reported the new list to the police.

Ina Brouwer, a lawyer for several of the affected students, said many did not want to return to university after being named on the first list. “Lots of them have isolated themselves,” she said. “They hesitate to go back to their rooms in Utrecht because they are afraid that everybody is looking at them. They feel like they cannot go on with their lives.”

“Some of them are being telephoned by complete strangers asking to go out,” she continued. “It’s traumatising.”

“We want to have the rules changed, with effective penalties for everyone who is doing this,” she said. “We want effective measures from universities and the student organisations.”

Ms Brouwer, who is working with two other lawyers to pursue both civil and criminal action against the creators of the list, noted that the incident was not an isolated one. Last year, the Dutch newspaper NRC reported, several USC members were suspended after hiring a sex worker for an event and sharing an explicit photograph on social media.

Similar “bangalijsten” were distributed in 2016 and 2021 by the Groningen student association Vindicat, resulting in suspensions, while another circulated around the medical school at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in 2015, according to the Dutch broadcaster NOS.

In 2022, NOS reports, male members of the Amsterdam student society ASC/AVSV were filmed making misogynistic speeches at a celebratory dinner, prompting the resignation of the association’s chair, Heleen Vos.

Later that year, more than 100 student societies signed a “declaration of intent” produced by the Utrecht students’ union VIDIUS, pledging to “ensure social safety” and to tackle sexual misconduct, bullying and discrimination.

Gijsje Maas, a researcher at Radboud University Nijmegen’s Behavioural Science Institute who focuses on gender norms, told Times Higher Education: “The fact that misogynistic expressions like ‘bangalijsten’ continue to emerge from student societies shows us something about the prevailing norms within (parts of) those societies.”

Although more research into the subject is needed, Ms Maas said, the prevalence of such acts might indicate that student society members “perceive that misogyny is accepted” within the group.

“People are motivated to fit in and show behaviour that they think conforms to the social norm of their newly found group, even more so in the highly hierarchical environment of student societies,” she continued, noting that “the misogynistic expressions originate from specific associations, and not all of them should be accused of being a part of this culture”.

emily.dixon@timeshighereducation.com