The UU is too white? Geographer Josse de Voogd says the university gets it entirely wrong in the presentation of its new diversity plan. "It's nonsense to say that students with a migrant background can't find the university.
In the Twitter storm that followed the launch of the Project plan Diversity: inflow and selection (pdf in Dutch ed.), most of the ruckus was about proposals that weren't actually on the UU board's agenda. Separate prayer rooms and halal canteens were things that were mentioned during meetings with students, but they were – as the university swore – not concrete plans.
De Voogd aimed his Twitter criticism at something the UU did say it wanted to do: increase the inflow of students with a migrant background. The independent researcher says the UU went wrong with the assumption that the UU has fewer 'non-western migrants' as students (10 percent) than is justifiable when looking at the outflow of the same group of people from Dutch vwo high school (20 percent). In calculating the latter group, the university probably included 'western migrants', the independent researcher concludes in an interview (in Dutch ed.) with newspaper the AD.
A painful situation ensued as the UU was forced to acknowledge (in Dutch ed.) that an overly ambitious employee had removed the text in question after De Voogd's remarks became known. Well intentioned, but less than transparent, the university agreed.
Josse de Voogd is an independent researcher and publicist. He studied International Relations in Utrecht, and then specialised in the geography of elections. He mapped large parts of the Netherlands. Earlier, De Voogd criticised the diversity committees at the University of Amsterdam, which he says made a mistake similar to the one the UU made. He thinks it's unacceptable that his criticism barely gets any support from progressives and the universities themselves.
"They are if you compare the inflow of migrant students to the outflow of the same group from the vwo, the group of students that are able and allowed to go to university. At the vwo level of high school, around 10 percent of students is from a migrant background – that number is 12 percent at universities. The VU and Erasmus University especially have many of these students. The UU is at around 9 to 11 percent of students with a non-western background, which is a perfectly fine reflection.
"Vwo students with a migrant background, then, choose to go to university more often, relatively speaking. It's possible they're more motivated to use their chances. Aside from that, the university for this group of students is simply closer than it is for other vwo students. After all, they often live in the cities the universities are located in. Physically speaking, that lowers the barrier.
Why then does the idea that universities are 'too white' exist?
"A lot of people who live in the city, experience universities as 'white' because the streets are a lot more diverse. But the current percentage of students from a migrant background absolutely represents the national ratio. There's not much you can do about that.
Why do you resent this misconception so much?
"While the discussion constantly focuses on how we can get the inflow more coloured, there's a group of native Dutch students – as is stated in several reports – that falls behind. With high rents and the cancellation of study financing, studying far away at university is becoming more expensive and less attractive. And we don't have a clear image of that group of white, disadvantaged people. Those vwo students probably don't live in Utrecht as much as they live in, say, Emmen, I suspect.
The UU says the input from multiple perspectives improves the quality of education and research. That's not a strange reasoning, is it?
"I can imagine they feel the lack of diversity in some study programmes is a problem. Especially in 'social' studies, such as sociology or history, that's a shame. Those programmes then have to shout their programmes are too white, and not that the university as a whole is too white, because that's not true. They could take a look at whether they can encourage students from a migrant background to come to them, but that group of students simply tends not to choose study programmes with uncertain job perspectives as often.
What should a university's diversity policy look like, then?
"Of course there's not much wrong with the university's policy that aims to create a more pleasant environment in which everyone feels at home. The University of Amsterdam's diversity research also showed that students from a migrant background did in fact encounter problems. How far you should take that diversity policy – prayer rooms or not – I couldn't say. At the very least, you don't want native Dutch students to drop out, because they don't like the culture. You could say the same for – and to the same degree – students voting PVV or SGP.
"You can wonder whether creating policies that focus on the inflow of specific target groups belongs at universities. If universities start a competition among themselves to get the students from a migrant background to come to them, then there's a danger lurking in that itself. It seems as though universities want to mirror themselves on the VU and the Erasmus University, partially for ideological activist reasons, partially for marketing and image-related reasons. If you're so proud, as university, of your coloured students, then apparently you'd prefer to have coloured students. To me, that makes you less reliable as diversity researcher or policy maker.
Why is it evidently so difficult for you to let your voice be heard?
"I fear this has to do with the fact that everyone these days lives in their own bubbles that come with a complete ideological package of opinions. In one bubble, you have to believe people from migrant backgrounds are always disadvantaged and that it's really important to do something about that. In the other bubble, you reject both of these observations.
"Jesse de Voogd stated he can 'imagine they feel the lack of diversity in some study programmes is a problem'. That's exactly why we created this plan.
"In it, we're not imposing anything top-down. We are, however, asking programmes to analyse their student population, and to see whether there's cause to work at increased diversity. This could mean students with a migrant background, but may also be about gender diversity, first generation students, and students with a social disadvantage.
"We don't want to impose a quota, and we don't want to introduce favouritism to certain groups of students (that's not even legally allowed). It's always about talent. Sometimes you'd prefer to have a little more diverse talent, as it relates to quality of education: it's good to bring together diverse perspectives in a work group. It can enrich the academic debate, and it's good for all students to learn to relate to other perspectives. It also prepares students for their future careers in a pluriform society. Then, you can study the reason why certain groups of students don't choose your study programme to apply to, and whether there are any barriers you can take away.