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Jaargang 44, 20 december 2001 English page

Executive Board member Te Beest resigns Drs. Willem te Beest resigned as of Monday as a member of TU/e's Executive Board. He said his reason was that he "no longer enjoys enough confidence within the university to be able to function adequately". Chairman dr.ir. Henk de Wilt made this 'serious' announcement on Monday afternoon at the beginning of the University Council meeting. He did not detail the exact motives for Te Beest's departure, despite questions from the council on the subject. Te Beest was appointed to the Executive Board in July of 1998. "We have talked with him during the past few days about the situation and about our frame of mind. We all felt the pressure increasing; not on Te Beest personally but in general. We were planning to continue our talks, but Mr Te Beest made his decision for personal reasons during the weekend," said De Wilt. Te Beest's departure follows weeks of unrest about the university's financial position. Te Beest was responsible for finances in his Executive Board position. Last week the University Council stated that it did not have enough confidence in the feasibility of the concept budget and so felt forced to advise against it. University Council members said Monday that they regretted Te Beest's decision, "especially after a process in which we also played a part," dr. Jimme Keizer (PUR) commented. De Wilt did not answer the Council member's question on whether Te Beest could count on the confidence of the Executive Board. Keizer also received no answer when he asked if increased pressure played a part in the manager's decision. "Mr Te Beest has not made us privy to his exact thoughts," said De Wilt. The chairman did say that the pressure within the Executive Board "was not shared equally among all the members". Damage De Wilt was also unwilling to say much about whether Te Beest's decision can be seen as a request for dismissal, after a question by Council member Joris Bierkens (Groep-éen). "I'm not prepared to talk about legal matters at this time. I can say we will try to minimise any damage to Mr Te Beest." On the day after it was made public, the departing Executive Board member himself was also unwilling to comment on his decision. "If the Executive Board itself has not given further explanations, you cannot expect them of me," he said when asked. "The statement that was read was drawn up after careful consideration; I feel no inclination to expand on it." At the request of the Supervisory Board, Executive Board chairman De Wilt is temporarily taking on Te Beest's responsibilities./.

Colourful Christmas in Eindhoven Christmas in the Netherlands is not a normal occurrence for everyone at TU/e. A divers group of foreign TU/e students and staff gathered for Christian student association 4U2's Christmas party on Friday December 14. Two golden, roasted turkeys are positioned between roast potatoes and vegetables. The guests -mainly foreign TU/e students and staff- will start their meal in a few minutes. We're still standing around talking, waiting for Izaak Hija, chairman of 4U2 and host, to make his Christmas speech. Uncomfortably Hope Deffor, a Ghanaian student at Stan Ackermans Institute, looks around a bit uncomfortably. He has been in the Netherlands for only a few months and doesn't know many people. Remembering Christmas in Ghana a wide grin appears on his face. "Christmas in Ghana is very social. Everyone gets a lot of food in and invites neighbours and family. Every two or three hours you visit another family. It's mainly a celebration for children, so you make sure you have some kind of gift for your neighbour's kids, like clothes or food. The children go from house to house in groups, sometimes their parents won't see them for a whole day." Ghanaians make their Christmas decorations from palm trees, in which they also hang Christmas lights. "When people come out of the Christmas church service they carry on singing and dancing in the street, especially children and teenagers. They wave their palm leaves and flowers to show their joy." Exchanging presents, as is the custom in Europe, is not a general practise in Ghana. "Only children receive new clothes, the rest of the celebration is about eating and drinking together. Having fun. My mother always makes a big Christmas dinner with lots of meat. That's special, because we usually eat mainly fish." Excitement Deffor left his country to study in Europe about ten years ago. He hasn't been home for Christmas in all that time. "I feel a bit to old for it. I've lost the excitement I felt as a child. I don't know how I'll spend Christmas this year." Izaak Hija has decided it's time for his Christmas speech. While the guests gather in a circle around him, he looks back on the past year. Apart from the problems newcomers have finding housing, 2001 brought 4U2 a number of romances and two marriage announcements. After a prayer, those present settle down to the turkey justice./. Photo: Bart van Overbeeke

Foreigners at TU/e well-behaved computer users TU/e's code of conduct for computer use has been effective since the beginning of last year and will now soon be published in English. In the last few months there have been many requests by foreigners for an English version of the code. "But there has never been a complaint about a foreigner at TU/e. Most complaints are by students about other students," says dr. Karen Ali, head of the Studenten Service Centrum and chairman of TU/e's committee on the code of conduct for computer use. Ali is pleased with the way the code is working out. "The code is very concise and has clarified what is and is not acceptable on the TU/e network," she explains. The main types of misconduct are sending junk mail, hacking and ignoring copyrights. Outside companies have tried to recruit employees among TU/e students by mail, this is also not permitted. According to Ali, the lightest form of misconduct would be unknowingly sending on a virus to other students or colleagues. This is of course not punished, but is reported to department curriculum managers and then to the unwitting perpetrators. One of the worst cases of 'computer misconduct' occurred earlier this year when a student published sex photos of his former girlfriend on the TU/e network. This was reported to the police. The student in question is being prosecuted under the Dutch anti stalking law. He was expelled. Committee TU/e's computer conduct code is routinely given to freshmen along with their new notebooks. Department curriculum managers handle most complaints about misuse of the network and/or computers. However, when a case seems more serious or too complicated for just one person to decide upon, TU/e's committee on the code of conduct for computer use is called in. This committee includes the head of Studenten Service Centrum (Karen Ali), a departmental curriculum manager, the head of the notebook service centre, a student and one of the members of TU/e's legal department. "As a committee we only see the serious cases," Ali explains. When the committee feels a crime may have been committed the police are called in. When the code of conduct was first implemented early in 2001, TU/e legal advisor mr. Herman de Bree remarked that "if someone is caught on campus without lights on his bike, of course we won't call the police. The code of conduct for computer use is about the things we all know shouldn't be allowed. Usually only about one per cent of users come into conflict with this. 99 per cent use computers in an accepted way"./.