Paul Bakker

On the first of July 2020, Bakker would have become the new dean of the faculty of philosophy, theology and religious studies at Radboud University.[6] He declined this promotion however, because it was revealed an investigation into social safety at the faculty would start, of which he would be the subject.[7][8] The results of this investigation, which were released on September 16th 2020, concluded he was guilty of having committed 'inappropriate behaviour'.[2][3][4][5]

As a result of this conclusion, he got a campus ban for one semester and the faculty decided they were going to look for a different dean.[2][3][5] During this sanction, he kept his salary because his contract was not terminated.[9] The report of the investigation was not published, however, which lead to it being unclear what was meant with the term 'inappropriate behaviour'.[5][10] The university did not give any information that would specify this term, because the people involved supposedly did not want the public to know what had happened, according to the executive board of the university.[4][5]

As a consequence of this unclarity, students decided to write an open letter to the executive board, which was published in the Algemeen Nijmeegs Studentenblad.[11] In this letter they demanded more openness regarding the results of the investigation. They also questioned the idea that the people involved did not want the public to know what had happened.[12] Furthermore, they argued the situation should not be covered up and they urged the executive board to learn from the MeToo-movement.[11][12] A petition was also created to request more clarity regarding the results of the investigation.[13] The executive board responded in a written statement, declaring they did not want to release the requested information.[14] The faculty did however decide to start a follow-up investigation as well as a 'cultural program' to prevent possible incidents in the future.[15][16]