University Board's Appeal: Destroy ‘chick lists’

The Executive Board of Utrecht University urges anyone in possession of a so-called ‘chick lists’ (grietenlijsten) to destroy it. All UU students have received this urgent request via email today. The Executive Board of the HU makes the same appeal to students at the University of Applied Sciences.

In recent weeks, there has been a lot of commotion about several lists made and distributed containing the name, personal and contact details of various female students from Utrecht. As UU has previously indicated, the distribution of such lists has far-reaching consequences for the affected students.

The victims have asked the Executive Boards of Utrecht University of Applied Sciences and Utrecht University to share their call for the removal of those lists. The Executive Board of UU writes: "We think it goes without saying that we are responding to that request. This situation requires a strong signal that we do not accept this behavior, which is why we decided to take the exceptional step of emailing all students in addition to our previous messages and sanctions to USC."

In the letter, the Executive Board explicitly asks everyone to prevent further dissemination, including in the future, by destroying the lists. "We appeal to you to hold others who have the list(s) accountable. Although the harm done to the students is irreversible, we as educational institutions want to contribute in this way to the sense of security of the affected student," the letter said.

The victims' lawyers also point out that having the list(s) in your possession is prosecutable. Even if you received the list(s) unsolicited and then did not distribute them. According to them, if you do not remove the list, you risk prosecution. For more details, see the lawyers' letter (pdf).