Dutch universities tougher on fraternities

TU Delft is the latest, responding to “humiliating and (medically) irresponsible” incidents during initiations.

This week the news came out that TU Delft is the latest university to take measures against a fraternity, in this case for an incident during the initiation period of the Delftsch Studenten Corps (DSC). An anonymous phone call revealed that there had been “humiliating and (medically) irresponsible incidents” during the initiation period. Students had to sleep in a room with a rotting fish, for example, or undress down to their underwear in the street or in a door opening. TU Delft has taken the decision to ban DSC from several activities in the OWee, and is looking into fining the DSC. In the past year, there has been a notable increase in incidents during initiations reaching the media, and measures taken against the associations were more severe. At least four universities have punished fraternities: Groningen, Utrecht, Rotterdam and now Delft. 

Fraternities in the Netherlands

Fraternities are an important part of Dutch student culture. They are associations of students who regularly come together for activities like ‘borrels’ and parties, but also sports, academic events or music. For many students, joining an association is a way of making new friends and engaging in the social aspects of student life. Nearly every university city has a ‘corps’. This type of student association is one of the oldest forms and is characterised by a focus on strict hierarchy and rules. Besides the corps, there are a number of other types of associations for students that either have a similar structure, for example Virgiel, or a different structure like the Delftsche Studenten Bond (DSB) or Wolbodo.

Purpose of initiation

Most of the fraternities have an initiation or pledging period. This is a period of usually one or two weeks in which aspiring members have the chance to get to know each other, and also to prove their dedication to becoming a member. The purpose of this period is to create a strong bond between the aspiring members and the senior members who have been through it. The intensity of the initiation depends on the type of fraternity: the corps and other more traditionally minded associations are known for their intense initiations, whereas others either do not have one or just have a freer initiation that is mostly focused on starting friendships.

Recent incidents

The first fraternity to reach the news in 2016 was Vindicat in Groningen. An aspiring member was left with permanent brain damage after a senior member stood on his head during the initiation period. That same year, an aspiring member of the Delft fraternity, Virgiel, was so seriously concussed that she had to miss a large part of her first academic year. TU Delft banned Virgiel from participating in this year’s introduction week (OWee). But more severely, in 2016 TU Delft did not financially compensate members of Virgiel for delays in their studies due to activities for the fraternity. In January 2018, the universities in Utrecht and Rotterdam cut ties with their corpora after a TV show called Rambam went undercover as students in their respective pledging periods and filmed the events with hidden cameras. In Utrecht, an asthmatic student was deprived of her medicines, and another student was spat on. In Rotterdam a student had to go to hospital after a fall, and a humiliating scene was filmed where students had to be naked in the shower and check each other’s behinds for ticks.

Changing society

The strong reaction of universities to these incidents can partly be explained by a change in society overall, where fraternities are increasingly under scrutiny. However, negative news about these incidents in no way affected the popularity of the related fraternities. Virgiel and DSC remain the two largest fraternities in Delft. Why? Despite, or maybe because of, the initiation period, fraternity members can become friends for life. They spend a lot of time together, often live in the same houses, go on trips together and have a very strong bond.

Nora de Vries