Jasper's Day
Jasper Knoester is the dean of the Faculty of Science. How is he doing, what exactly does he do and what does his day look like? In each newsletter, Jasper gives an insight into his life.
Thursday 14 November
'My birthday. It’s been a long time since I woke up excited on my birthday, and today there will be little focus on it anyway. I quickly eat my muesli with milk and blackcurrants and prepare breakfast and lunch for the kids. As we continue getting ready for the day, they realise it’s my birthday and offer their congratulations, along with a snippet of a fitting song. On the train to Leiden, I scroll through my phone and see a flood of birthday messages—family, friends, and colleagues clearly seem more invested in it than my household, including myself.
At the Gorlaeus building, I have a few short meetings before joining a lovely cake moment with a large group of colleagues from administration and services. There’s enthusiastic singing—it seems I’ll be living a long life after all! After this, I rush to the city centre to take part in an impromptu demonstration against budget cuts in (higher) education. It’s a shame the major protest in Utrecht had to be cancelled, but I’m glad we could still voice our outrage and concern here in Leiden about the future of the country. The government coalition wants the Netherlands to rank among the world’s top knowledge economies, but that’s only possible if significant investments are made in education—at every level, and particularly in higher education and research. Moreover, we must open our doors to talent from all over the world. These are messages that cannot be delivered often or clearly enough!
At the Pieterskerkhof, around 500 people have gathered to demonstrate. It’s a short but powerful event. We sing a song with a pointed message for the Minister of Education, Culture and Science, and there are a few concise but strong speeches. Representing the university, an energetic Mark Rutgers, Dean of Humanities, takes the stage. Between speeches, the song is repeated a few times. It’s a great gathering—staff, students, and the city standing united for the cause. Whether it will have any effect on the government remains to be seen, but I think it has at least strengthened the sense of community within the university and beyond.
Afterwards, I hurry to the station for my journey to Nijmegen—an hour and a half to read and occasionally enjoy the Dutch countryside. Today, Ton Tekstra, the husband of our Executive Board Chair Annetje Ottow, is delivering his inaugural lecture as Professor Extraordinary at the Nijmegen Faculty of Law. I borrow a local gown with a distinctive red trim—much easier than bringing one from Leiden. The beautiful Nijmegen auditorium is well-filled, with a striking number of students, which I understand is a good tradition here, as well as some familiar faces from Leiden. I can’t follow everything in the lecture but get a solid impression of the subject matter.
The reception is followed by a vibrant dinner party. The diverse crowd makes for plenty of enjoyable and animated conversations. The DJ keeps the atmosphere lively, and halfway through the evening, Ton himself takes to the decks, successfully getting almost everyone on the dance floor. At 11 p.m., I say my goodbyes, and just after midnight, I’m home.
My birthday is over. Even without much focus on it, I look back on a memorable and festive day.