The transport costs of our Rector Magnificus Karen Maex were unusually high in 2020. The Centrale Student Council (CSR) has sent a letter inquiring about the costs that were decelerated by the College van Bestuur (CvB). In their response, the CvB states that the costs are justified.
In the declaration overview of 2020, high transport costs declared by Karen Maex spring to the eye. Maex place of residence is in Leuven, and due to the pandemic, she has travelled by car to and from the UvA. In the overview, each trip back and forth from Leuven to Amsterdam cost 998,44 euros. Between the twelfth of March and the third of December 2020, Maex made this trip (roughly) eight times. This means that in these eight months Maex has spent a total of 7488,30 euros on transport. This is an unusually high number.
The CSR has inquired why Maex’s transport costs have risen greatly in 2020. In their letter to the Maex and the CvB- among others- they state that the transportation costs make up ‘two-thirds of the total expenses that were declared by the CvB.’ The CSR expresses concerns about these high costs as they state that the Dutch government asks managers of public institutions to decelerate reticently. Moreover, the UvA emphasizes the importance of sustainable travel and explicitly states that ‘train is the preferred option.’ According to the council, the travel by taxi is ‘not in accordance with these two points. In the letter, they ask for ‘legitimate reasons that [they] do not know of for choosing this way of commuting.’ If these are not given the council condemns the declarations and ‘lack of integrity.’
In their response, the CvB states that it is part of the UvA regulation that ‘if a member of the Executive Board cannot (…) travel by public transport, a taxi, official car or lease car may be used.’ Moreover, they state that COVID-19 has made it difficult to travel by public transport, thus ‘hired transport by car was used.’ In the response, it is also mentioned that Maex normally takes the train.
The declaration overviews of 2018 and 2019 both show significantly lower transport costs. This indicates the influence COVID-19 had on Maex’s ability to travel. The CSR is set to discuss the response in their next meeting Monday 28th.