What we are doing to ensure our students and staff can work and study safely
In the last few days, reports have appeared in the media about security in our buildings. These have raised questions and caused concern. This is to inform you as best we can about the security of our students, staff and visitors, in response to this media coverage. We fully understand there is a need for transparency and will make every effort to communicate as clearly as possible about security issues.
Leiden University is responsible for the safety of a diverse community of around 40,000 people who work and study in about 50 buildings in Leiden and The Hague.
There have been a number of incidents recently. For example, we have observed on several occasions people who do not belong on our campus. Unauthorised persons and those with ill intentions are obviously not supposed to be on our campus.
We make every effort to ensure our students, staff and visitors can study and work safely. This is a complex challenge given the security situation in the world. It takes a tailored approach and we want to be as transparent about this as possible. Our security takes visible and less visible shapes.
With regard to the media coverage, we can report that:
- For the security of its buildings, the university uses plain-clothes security guards – this can be at any location. Their role is to guarantee the safety of our students and staff. They do so by identifying suspicious situations at an early stage, for example. These are qualified security guards, and once they have worked for us a few times our students and staff usually recognise them. This is good because that is the community that they protect.
- These security guards do not usually look in bags. At special events, extra measures may need to be taken, such as extra ID or bag checks. These could be events with special guests or lots of visitors. Where possible, such checks are announced in advance so that students and staff are aware of them.
- The university makes its own decisions about what measures need to be taken and if necessary is in contact with the police, judiciary and municipality.
- The university employs student assistants who provide security briefings about events and incidents in the world that could affect Leiden University. These briefings are based on open sources (internet). They help us make our university safe for students, staff and visitors. It is not the student assistants’ job to monitor people on our campus.
If you have any questions about the above, please contact your study adviser.