University’s Ban on Coffee and Tea Causes Discomfort Among Staff

Last week we had our annual ‘Christmas colloquium’ at work: an hour and a half meeting with about eight short and (by academic standards) fun lectures on various themes, preferably somewhat related to the December festivities. Afterwards there will be a Christmas drink, followed by coffee, tea and cookies. At least, there were in previous years. This year, only bottles of water were available at the start, which does not immediately evoke a festive end-of-year feeling.

Cutbacks, thought the colleague I was complaining to. Because everything, and especially staff, has become considerably more expensive, we are already short of money at the university – and then the Wilders cabinet has yet to start.

Noise pollution due to coffee and tea

But when I asked the colloquium organization it turned out to be different. Higher authorities had decreed that coffee and tea could no longer be served in the room in question due to noise pollution. In fact, catering was no longer allowed at all, but water, hey, that was just possible.

Noise disturbance. To understand that argument, you need to know something about the layout of the Utrecht Academy Building, where our Christmas colloquium always takes place. Our meeting was in the Belle van Zuylenzaal. A room in which, contrary to what the name suggests, the walls mainly contain portraits of Important Men.

Right above that is the Senate Room, with many more portraits of Important Men and, it must be said, if you look carefully, a few women too. The Senate Hall is an important room: here all Utrecht PhD students publicly defend their dissertation. A festive ceremony that is, rightly, surrounded with the necessary solemnity. And apparently in recent years that ceremony has been regularly interrupted by the clinking of coffee spoons and the cracking of cookies, coming from a floor below.

No more pausing

And so catering can no longer be ordered at meetings in the rooms below the Senate Hall. And I understand that there is actually no intention of taking a break during those meetings – then people start talking to each other in the hallway, and that also disrupts the promotion ceremonies.

No catering, no breaks. I could hardly believe that someone would come up with such a policy. And, I have to admit, I got it second hand, so who knows, maybe it isn’t. At the same time: if they come up with something like this somewhere, it will be at the university.

It is a policy that fits a misleading ideal image of the scientist as a genius; like a walking brain; as one who thinks, and nothing else. But scientists are just like people, so in addition to a mind, they also have a body. That body is hungry and thirsty, it gets tired, it can get sick or get injured. Then it must eat, drink, rest or recover.

Use your maternity leave for a subsidy application

Anyone who pretends that scientists are only their brains quickly ignores those needs. You see this happening all the time at the university. Teachers who shorten the breaks during lectures, or even skip them altogether. Professors who make it clear to PhD students that they are not supposed to take all their vacation days. Researchers having lunch while walking, on their way from one meeting to another. Managers who suggest that you should use your maternity leave to write a grant application.

It is already difficult for someone with a healthy body to maintain it – I remember a colleague who developed esophageal complaints because she did not have time to chew her bread before swallowing it. For someone with a chronic illness or disability, the way the university ignores physical needs is particularly hindering.

And science itself is not getting any better either. When you’re hungry, thirsty, in pain or tired, you can’t think as well – everyone knows that. Or almost everyone: only at the universities do we not realize this yet. We are, I’m afraid, too exhausted to understand.

Hieke Huistra

2023-12-17 05:05:13
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