UvA Board threatens legal action if budget figures are not approved
The adoption of the UvA’s 2024 budget threatens to get into a quagmire since the participation councils have been refusing to agree to the draft budget for several months. The UvA is now threatening to go to arbitration to obtain consent.
For the first time in a long while, there is the risk of legal action by the UvA to force consent from the participation councils for the outline of next year’s UvA budget. The Joint Meeting (jm) of the Central Student Council and the Central Works Council indicated back in July that it would not approve the so-called Framework Letter, the preliminary calculations for next year’s budget. Co-determination gives the Joint Meeting the legal right of consent to the Framework Letter, and they issued an ultimatum on housing on the Roeterseiland Campus (REC). That ultimatum has remained squarely in place since July.
Opinion
The jm has made an issue of housing on the REC because its co-determination participation in the development of the REC, which houses three faculties and a variety of services, “has not been adequately and mutually regulated.” But according to the UvA, this is “not a key item in the budget.” The jm has indicated it wants to seek “legal advice” before agreeing to this Framework Letter.
In the meantime, the budget calendar moves on. The UvA has now finalized the draft budget for next year, partly on the basis of the Framework Letter to which the jm has not yet agreed. It is all taking far too long for the UvA Board: They want a final decision by November 15th. In a letter to the jm, Board Chair Geert ten Dam writes that failing an agreement, the UvA Board “feels compelled to request the National Commission for Disputes with the Participation of Higher Education to grant the Executive Board permission to adopt the main points of the budget.” In anticipation of this, the UvA board has asked the Supervisory Board “to investigate whether an amicable settlement is possible.”
The issue is now urgent as 2023 draws to a close and the new year—possibly without a budget—approaches. That could have major financial implications, Ten Dam said. “As long as there is no agreement on the outlines of the budget by January 1st 2024, the Board can only access 4 a third of the funds included in the budget of the previous year.”
