Navigators do not fear losing grant

The Hague University of Applied Sciences wants to stop awarding committee grants to Christian student association Navigators because of its ‘strong evangelical objectives’. The Groningen branch of the association does not think the RUG will follow this example.
By Peter Keizer / Photo by Traci White / Translation by Sarah van Steenderen

Aspiring members of the Navigators in The Hague have to sign a form saying they agree with the Christian foundation and the association’s evangelical objectives. Anyone who refuses to sign is refused membership. According to The Hague University of Applied Sciences, this is in violation of its stipulation that student associations should be open to essentially all students. The university of applied sciences has therefore decided to award no more grants to the association.

Lower House MP Eppo Bruins of the Christian Union says the action smacks of discrimination. But education minister Bussemaker disagrees. She sides with the university of applied sciences, even if the association’s members are not actually spreading their Christian faith on the street. The restricted access and the statutory objectives of evangelisation means the association is not meeting the stipulation, she says.

‘Open association’

In awarding committee grants, the RUG also demands that ‘organisations are essentially open’ to all students. Yet the Groningen branch of the Navigators, which has 418 members, is not worried, says board member Daniël Peereboom.

‘We’re essentially an open association’, he says. ‘New members do have to agree with Christian foundations, but people don’t have to be Christian. It’s not a condition for membership,’ says Peereboom.

But just like in The Hague, aspiring members have to sign a form saying they agree with the Christian foundations and the association’s evangelical objectives. The student association has a missionary character and its motto is as follows: ‘Knowing Christ and proclaiming him to students in Groningen in their own culture.’

Grant

The Navigator board members receive 35 committee grant months, according to CUOS, the organisation that checks whether student organisations are eligible for committee grants based on the graduation fund on behalf of the RUG and Hanze University of Applied Sciences. This translates to approximately 15,000 euros.

The board members at CUOS find Bussemaker’s response intriguing, one of them says. ‘But we won’t be doing anything with it right now. Once every three years we check which associations are eligible for committee grants. We will reassess the Navigators in two years.’

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