How to report an incident or a concern at Design Academy Eindhoven

In these days, the Netherlands is holding a national debate about sexism, racism and harassment in its institutions devoted to the arts. As one such institution, the Design Academy must face up to this reckoning too. We are aware of allegations of misconduct that have been made, and take them extremely seriously. All allegations will be investigated.

Every member of our community has a right to feel safe at the Academy. The first step to make sure this is the case is to provide clear and effective ways to report inappropriate actions of any kind - which in turn makes it possible for us to address the issue. Following consultations with the student body (also in relation to the recent widespread protests around racism and inequality) we have been overhauling our reporting protocols with the intention of making them more robust and effective.

We would therefore like to update you on the channels available to report inappropriate behaviour of any kind at the Academy.

HOW TO REPORT AN INCIDENT OR A CONCERN

If you would like to report an incident, we have different ways to do this. As a student you can go to ‘Study at DAE Care’ where you will find information about Olga Pullens (student counsellor) or Mona Smits (Mentor Year BA). For both our student body and staff, our internal point of contact (confidant) is Yolande Hezemans You can request an appointment (in person or via Teams), and if you request anonymity, only she will know your identity. You can also use a throwaway email to contact her if you prefer.

If you feel more comfortable discussing your concerns with our external party who is not an employee of the Design Academy, you can contact our external counsellors (https://www.designacademy.nl/p/study-at-dae/student-life/confidential-counsellor) tasked by us, acting as an independent point of reference for our community in matters related to the wellbeing of our students (and staff if and when necessary). You can contact them in person or anonymously. If you request it, your identity will not be revealed to us. Depending on the circumstances, we may task her to conduct an external investigation independent from and in addition to our own internal verification processes.

DAE’s confidential counsellors are:

Tamara de Reu dereu@devertrouwenspersoon.nl
T 088 111 99 00

Jeroen Zweerts zweerts@devertrouwenspersoon.nl
T 088 111 99 10

Both are associated with “De Vertrouwenspersoon” (The Confidant), an organization that operates nationwide and works exclusively with professional and qualified employees.

Finally, if you would like to contact the Executive Board directly you can simply email ExecutiveBoard@designacademy.nl.

Best regards,
Executive Board
Joseph, Raf, Mechtild