USC lifeguards no longer welcome on Texel after 75 years

Members of the Utrecht Student Work Camp (USW), an initiative of the Utrecht Student Corps (USC), have been working as lifeguards on Texel since 1950. They spend several weeks doing this job on the island during the summer. Now, the tradition is coming to an end. On Wednesday evening, the Texel municipal council voted in favour of a proposal to terminate the collaboration with the fraternity. 

There have been concerns about the social safety of women on the island for quite some time. In January, the AD newspaper reported on several incidents of inappropriate behaviour by current or former USC lifeguards. One of these incidents allegedly involved a gang rape. In addition, four women have reported incidents of sexual abuse to their GP and the municipal councillor Jacquelien Dros (from the left-wing GroenLinks party). Utrecht University called USC to account after those reports.

The police have received two reports of inappropriate behaviour, but neither they nor the Public Prosecution Service saw any reason to investigate the matter further, so no complaints have been filed against USC. This is why Texel Mayor Mark Pol refrained from ending the collaboration earlier this year.

Additional supervision
However, the municipality of Texel took measures to prevent inappropriate behaviour. For example, last summer, the lifeguards from Utrecht were no longer allowed to receive women in the shed where they slept. They also had to sign a code of conduct and were monitored by an external supervisor. The municipality's evaluation report showed that the collaboration with USC lifeguards last summer was mostly positive. 

However, the positive report failed to convince a majority of the Texel municipal council. The parties in favour of terminating the collaboration with USC believe that it is not the municipality's job to monitor the fraternity members through an external supervisor. The political parties PvdA, CDA, D66 and GroenLinks submitted a joint motion to that effect. PvdA member Eric Hercules explains: "All that additional effort is actually too bizarre for words." Hercules has no confidence that the new measures and supervision will lead to a cultural change within the fraternity's ranks. "We are not going to wait for a day that will never come."

Not guilty
Some councillors are upset that USC is being dismissed after receiving a positive assessment last summer. They are also concerned about the safety of Texel's beaches now that the fraternity members will no longer work there. Veronne Koot, from the political party GroenZwart, would have liked the students to keep working there as lifeguards. "We believe that one should not condemn individuals who are not at fault."

The decision to put an end to the collaboration also comes as a surprise to USC. Its rector, Cas Moerdijk, says: "The evaluation report showed that the behaviour of USC members was not controversial, nor did it lead to social unrest. We believe that our members can be proud of how they performed their duties and that the safety of Texel's beaches was always their top priority."

Moerdijk therefore finds the municipal council's decision "regrettable", as "this collaboration was cherished by many people. The media reported on alleged past abuses. Former USC members cannot defend themselves against those claims, and they do not recognise themselves in those stories. We hope that the decision to terminate the collaboration will not be at the expense of the safety of beachgoers on Texel."