Headlines

Five Utrecht students will represent the Netherlands at theOlympic Games in the next few weeks. Rowing club Orca is sendingsix competitors to the Games in Sydney, including four students.The cox Merijn van Oijen, Geert Cirkel and Peter van der Noort willdefend the Atlanta gold medal in the men's eight. Law studentMarieke Westerhof and graduate Eveline Meijer have secured theirplaces in the women's eight. Utrecht physiotherapist AnnemiekeEijgelaar will be one of the squad's substitutes. In field hockey,Utrecht University is represented at the Sydney games by Kampongpenalty corner specialist Dilliane van den Boogaard. Eefke Mulder,another Kampong player, had to drop out at the last moment and willbe only a spectator.

Discrimination against students

Today, the Commission for Equal Opportunities will quiz theowner of the 'Dansfabriek' discotheque about how its porter treateda number of medical and pharmacology students. Last January, at alarge party organized by the Medical Students' Society, thediscotheque porter refused seven students admission because oftheir appearance. The Medical Students' Association, as well as thepolice, left the students in the cold that evening. The followingday Ismail Adiyaman, one of the seven students, contacted the ownerof the discotheque. The latter was only too keen to explain theporter's decision: "We don't want a load of Moroccans in thisdiscotheque". The seven students decided to go to the police. Morethan a month later they were told that the police did not regardthe refusal of admission as a misdemeanor. The students then lodgedcomplaints with the city's mayor, the Commission for EqualOpportunities and Roger van Boxtel, Minister for Ethnic Minoritiesand the Inner Cities. The district attorney found that an offensehad been committed. After another six months the police, underpressure from higher authorities, re-opened the file on the Januaryincident. If the Commission for Equal Opportunities judges thediscotheque's policy to be discriminatory and racist, criminalproceedings will begin in which the students will demand theclosure of the discotheque.