When will the UU break the academic hierarchy?

There is hardly a work environment that is as hierarchical as that of the university. Until a few years ago, that was even formal policy. Professors decided who could obtain a doctorate, their Ius Promovendus. Professors sat on the most important committees and thus decided almost all policy. Professors determined who could become a professor. And to emphasise all that, professors were the only ones allowed to wear a professorial gown and be addressed as Professor.

This hierarchy can lead to social unsafety. In addition, this special position of professors is not justified, because the daily tasks of professors do not differ that much from those of other academics with a permanent contract.

In 2023, we at De Jonge Akademie had enough. We launched “Everyone Professor! ” because we believe that equal responsibilities and tasks in education and research also requires equal rights and associated symbols. The academic hierarchy is a waste of unused potential.

With Everyone Professor, we want to align the rights and obligations of Assistant and Associate Professors with those of colleagues in the countries around us. In France, they can call themselves Professeur. In the United Kingdom, they can train PhD candidates. Nowhere was the hierarchy as great as here in the Netherlands.

And so, at the beginning of 2023, Peter Bijl and I started a ‘round of Utrecht deans’ – he in his role as chairman of Utrecht Young Academy and I on behalf of De Jonge Akademie. We wanted to talk to all the deans about Everyone Professor, and hear what they saw as obstacles. Our goal was for the UU to be the first university to implement Everyone Professor.

We were almost halfway through our Dean visits when, to our surprise and delight, the UU decided to allow all members of the PhD committee to wear a professorial gown. It was a huge milestone in Everyone Professor, and Utrecht University was the first to reach it. I have no idea to what extent Peter’s and mine half-round had helped, but it felt like a triumph.

But since then? It has been rather quiet since then... 

In most places at the UU, there is still a formation principle; so Associate Professors who are ready to become Professor must wait quite literally until a place becomes available. Non-professors can now sometimes be granted the right to promote, but under strict conditions that differ per faculty and do not always have to do with guaranteeing the quality of the dissertation or the supervision of the PhD candidates.

The title Professor is still only for professors. Former rector Henk Kummeling once said that he is not against Assistant and Associate Professor calling themselves Prof abroad (for example on European project applications), just as Dutch State Secretaries are allowed to call themselves Minister abroad, but this has not been formalised anywhere. Non-professors are therefore reluctant to apply this right in the strong hierarchy of the workplace. 

Utrecht University has shown leadership (and had good publicity) by being the first to implement “Everyone a Gown”. But where is the progress on further extending Ius Promovendus? On opening leadership functions and tasks to non-professors? On the right to wear a gown on other academic occasions as well. On the opportunity to give an inaugural speech? On the title “Professor” for Everyone?