There has been a vacancy for a member preferred by the participation council (see box) ever since Agnes Schaafsma left the Supervisory Board on 1 November, 2015. Since then, the University Council has not succeeded in filling her spot.
The first proposed candidate turned out to no longer be available. The second candidate, Katinka Slump, was rejected by the ministry of Education in April for allegedly being too critical. A third person had to abandon their candidacy last summer ‘due to personal circumstances’, a source close to the University Council says. The council members would not say who this person was.
New nomination
The University Council is now tasked with nominating someone else. They are supposedly in talks with several candidates and will be making a final attempt to propose two candidates to the minister of Education. Should they fail, at least once candidate will be proposed to the ministry within three weeks.
The board should have one minister-appointed member who was nominated by the University Council or, in legalese, the ‘participation council’ (article 9,7 Whw). The minister also appoints one member that is preferred by the University Council. These two concepts can be united in one member who is preferred by the University Council and nominated by the same, but that is not necessarily the case.