Lecturer Tjeerd Andringa, a senior lecturer at the University of Groningen (RUG), has been suspended by that university after students accused him of spreading conspiracy theories in his classes. The University of Groningen reports this on Friday in a statement. “It has been determined that due to this unrest, the teacher involved is unable to provide education as both parties want,” the university writes. There will also be an independent investigation into ‘the state of affairs’.
On Wednesday, the university newspaper published UKrant an article in which students who took Andringa’s Systems Views of Life course at University College Groningen (UCG) talk about what he teaches in the lessons: he lectured, among other things, about how vaccinations would cause autism, about ‘the dominating position of Jews’ and discussed conspiracy theories about 9/11. According to the students, he also tried to convince them of his “alternative truth”.
In the article of the UKrant the board of the University of Groningen stated that it had already decided, after ‘a long period of supervision and observation’, to no longer offer the Systems Views of Life course. It was unclear at the time whether Andringa would still be allowed to teach other courses listed in the study guide – the university was carrying out “further investigation”. Now the University of Groningen makes it clear that it ‘will not provide education’ ‘pending the outcome’ of the independent investigation.
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