No imminent bankruptcy UCR
Recent publications on Scienceguide.nl have speculated several times about an impending bankruptcy of University College Roosevelt. These posts draw erroneous conclusions from the report “Financial Responsibility of OCW for University College Roosevelt – UCR” published July 25 on the central government website.
Both UCR, and the State Audit Service (ADR), and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) have stated several times that this was only a theoretical research question, and that there was no imminent bankruptcy. These statements have also been supported by UCR’s annual figures, which show a single solvency of nearly 30% in 2020 and 2021. Over 2022, it increased to 39%.
Rectification
UCR has repeatedly asked Science Guide to rectify the published articles because such claims damage UCR’s honor and good name, and lead to fewer applications from new students. Because Science Guide failed to honor agreements after earlier promises of rectification, UCR was forced to file summary proceedings.
In its ruling of Nov. 30, the Amsterdam District Court confirmed that Science Guide has not sufficiently substantiated its claims, and that these lead to damages for UCR. ‘The impression is that, as UCR put it at the hearing, Science Guide went down a rabbit hole while speculating. It views the factual material through the lens of collusion to cover an impending bankruptcy. A journalist should certainly have a critical attitude, as Science Guide rightly pointed out, but should also be open to exculpatory material. That is where Science Guide seems to be lacking. (…) Science Guide failed to mention in its publications that UCR’s solvency showed an upward trend in 2020 and 2021. The failure to mention these more favorable annual figures reinforces the impression of tunnel vision on the part of Science Guide’.
Ruling
The Court ordered Science Guide to take offline all articles that speak of UCR’s impending bankruptcy, as well as request search engines Google and Bing to de-index the pages. Mentions to the articles on social media of Science Guide and its journalists must also be removed. Finally, Science Guide should post a rectification on its website for 2 weeks.
Prof. Edward Nieuwenhuis, Dean of UCR: “As a university, we are advocates of free journalism and freedom of expression, but we also value open dialogue and factual conclusions. It is regrettable that Science Guide and UCR did not reach a constructive solution in the past period and that going to court proved necessary, but we are pleased that the court ruled in UCR’s favor.