Which names do we give to our tutorial rooms?

A few months ago, a poll was launched to get everyone’s input. A total of 123 votes were cast. With 14 votes Aletta Jacobs (advocate of general suffrage and the first female student at a Dutch university) was by far the most popular candidate. Six colleagues mentioned Montesquieu, Johanna Hudig (first female judge in the Netherlands), Simone Veil and Brussels (in the category legally relevant locations). Hugo Grotius, Jean Monnet and Strasbourg received 5 votes and Dutch law professor and statesman Thorbecke 4. Tobias Asser, Jeremy Bentham, Von Savigny and Van Gend en Loos were supported by 3 colleagues. All other suggested names (including The Hague, Cesare Beccaria, E.M. Meijers and Justinian) ranked even lower. Newly suggested names included present colleagues (of whom we will not reveal the names), Nelson Mandela, Luis Drago, Alexander Gogel (4x), Rosalyn Higgins (3x) and the Schumacker case (4x) and Maastricht.

The poll was received with lots of enthusiasm. There was also the wish to make sure there would be sufficient diversity, a wish I fully support. The question was also raised whether we could not, at some place in our building, pay attention to those who received an honorary doctorate upon the nomination of the Faculty. This is also a good idea.

What does this lead to? It is important that we name rooms to each of the four categories (jurists, cases, locations and concepts). One colleague suggested to reserve the rooms on the ground floor for jurists, and those further away for the other categories. The one limitation is that we do not name rooms after jurists who are still alive. As we only have 15 rooms to name, this leads to some choices.

The poll makes clear that the names of jurists are preferred by colleagues. This leads to a choice for Aletta Jacobs, Montesquieu, Johanna Hudig, Simone Veil, Hugo Grotius, Jean Monnet and Thorbecke. Taslim Olawale Elias (the first African president of the ICJ) is added to this list. One room will be reserved for our honorary doctors. Six rooms then remain to be names after Brussels, Strasbourg, Van Gend en Loos and Schumacker. This makes the choice somewhat geared towards international law and tax law. As we also have important bachelor and master’s programmes in Dutch, we will add two Dutch cases: suggestions are most welcome. As to the legal concepts: the move to the Kapoenstraat in 2020 will open up new possibilities here.

Many thanks to everyone who participated in the poll.

On behalf of the Faculty Board, I also want to wish everyone a wonderful Summer. The Board hopes you will all enjoy at least several weeks of relaxed holidays away from the Faculty. Happy holidays and do come back safely!