The board of Utrecht University has responded to the objections, among others to the open letter written by Mara Yerkes, which was signed by 48 other members of staff. Two women will be added to the committee.
On behalf of the board of Utrecht University, Drs. Leon van de Zande, general director of the corporate offices, has responded to the call for more female committee members for the selection of a new rector magnificus. We greatly appreciate this reaction. What happened here shows that implicit gender bias can be an unconscious matter and that it can happen to anyone. The only thing that can be done about it, it correcting a situation when the situation proves to be undesirable, and that is exactly what Utrecht University has done. Read Leon van de Zande's statement (in Dutch) here:
UPDATE December 22:
The new composition of the selection committee has been announced: the Supervisory Board has invited prof. dr. Janneke Plantenga and prof. dr. Naomi Ellemers to join the committee and they have agreed to participate. See the statement of Utrecht University (in Dutch) below:
Various media have also picked up this story:
https://nos.nl/artikel/2208849-vrouwen-erbij-in-sollicitatiecommissie-universiteit-utrecht.html
Read the whole store here .