UU sticks to 'Christmas' and 'Easter'

Late in September, Utrecht University of Applied Sciences (HU) made headlines across the country for removing religious terms from its calendar. From now on, Christmas, Easter and Ascension Day will be referred to as “national holidays”.

According to HU, this is a step towards a more inclusive form of communication. Nevertheless, the change led to a media storm, and the discussion even reached the House of Representatives. The leader of the far-right PVV party, Geert Wilders, spoke of “cultural suicide”, while the leader of the ChristenUnion, Mirjam Bikker, wondered “why Christian holidays should be cancelled”.

On September 23, the Minister of Education, Gouke Moes, answered questions about it. He indicated that he shared the MPs' outrage, but preferred not to address the issue with HU to respect its academic freedom. "It is not up to the government to interfere with the substantive choices of educational institutions."

At the end of October, HU posted on its website that the new calendar had been changed following an internal consultation. "The academic calendar indicates when HU is open or closed," says the university of applied sciences, adding that "the academic calendar will refer to both official public holidays [...] and the holidays and commemorative days included in the calendar of the Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Network."

Else, a Master's student in Educational Sciences, thinks it would be a shame if everything were simply called “holidays”.  In her view, "it's okay to call Christmas and Easter by their names. The content doesn't change because of a name change. It would be strange to call Easter 'Spring Festival', for example. Everyone celebrates Easter their own way; if you're not Christian, then you celebrate it with an Easter bunny or a walk in the woods. I also think that 'end-of-year holiday' sounds logical. That way, students who don't celebrate Christmas can also participate, but it's more symbolic than necessary."

No policy to rename public holidays
Utrecht University does not plan on implementing such a change. However, last year, the term “end-of-year holiday” suddenly appeared in several Intranet news items instead of “Christmas holiday”. The Intranet is only accessible to staff. UU spokesperson Annelies Waterlander explains that, in this case, the term refers to a period that extends beyond Christmas.

Waterlander adds that, unlike HU, UU has no policy to replace religious names with neutral names in its calendar. "Public holidays are mentioned by name in the overview of public holidays and collective days off, as well as in the public holiday calendar of the EDI (Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, Ed.) team."

Daniël, a Master's student in Theoretical Physics, believes that more neutral names are unnecessary and would rather see the Netherlands preserve its own culture. "You can pretend it's not Christmas. We have some time off because it's Christmas. Why beat around the bush? It feels like we're trying too hard to be inclusive."

UU aims to be aware of the diversity of its community. In addition to Christmas and Easter, the EDI calendar also includes holidays such as Eid al-Fitr (sugar feast), the Hindu spring festival Holi, and Keti Koti, the day commemorating the abolition of slavery in Suriname. According to Brigitte Prieshof, coordinator of the EDI team, "the calendar is intended to raise awareness and show that there is more than just Christian holidays."

The calendar can be added to Outlook so that staff and students can see which religious and cultural days are important to their colleagues and fellow students. "This calendar is still under development and does not claim to be complete”, Prieshof emphasises.

First-year veterinary student Elvis doesn't think it's strange to use more neutral terms. "The Netherlands isn't as religious as it used to be, and I can imagine that some people find it strange to have a public holiday with a Christian name. In that case, I think we should also celebrate public holidays from other religions."

Pilot for students and collective labour agreement amendment
In addition to raising awareness, the university has also taken a few practical steps. Since 2024, students have been allowed to withdraw from an exam on a holiday that is important to them but is not a standard public holiday in the Netherlands. They do not lose their right to retake the exam. The pilot will be evaluated shortly.

The collective labour agreement for universities has also been amended to allow greater flexibility: since 2024, employees have been able to exchange Good Friday for another religious or cultural holiday or commemorative day, such as Keti Koti, Remembrance Day, or Carnival.

Two third-year Pharmacy students, Israa and Ming Ming, focus primarily on the practical aspects of the calendar. "Changing the name doesn't make much sense to us. If you choose to retain only the holidays for a specific purpose, such as celebrating Christmas at Christmas, then I understand that the name belongs with it."

University Council: ‘Not an issue for us’
The names of public holidays are not a current point of discussion in the University Council. Dewi van Onselen, who took office as chair of the student section in September, says: "It is not one of the issues we are actively engaged in at the moment. We are mainly focusing on issues such as budget cuts, administrative grants and voting rights for pre-Master's students." That does not mean that the council considers the issue unimportant. "We believe every student should feel welcome at Utrecht University."

Psychology student Richard considers this debate over the top. "Christmas is a Christian holiday, but I don't have a problem with that, and I don't think others do either. If it were called a 'national holiday', I would still just call it Christmas. However, I do think it's good that UU also includes days like Keti Koti, which are important to the history of our country."