Thesis graduate student causes media storm
The perfect 10 score that graduate student Henk Bovekerk received for his thesis, in which he concludes that Freedom Party PVV is a fascist party, caused another media storm last weekend. Only just after the Diederik Stapel affair.
After Univers published the news about the thesis last Friday morning the article was viewed more than five thousand times in two days and almost all Dutch media sources (including regional and national newspapers and news websites) reported the news.
The result: a heated discussion on Twitter and various (media) forums. On the one hand about whether the Freedom Party was fascist or not, and on the other hand whether De Ruijter and Blommaert could have objectively assessed the thesis. Bovekerk’s supervisors, professors Jan Jaap de Ruijter and Jan Blommaert, are both known as fierce opponents of the PVV.
Dozens of people read Bovekerke’s thesis. Is it a perfect statement that proves the fascist character of the PVV? Some people argued that it is a thesis of a promising student but not worth a ten score. More of an eight, they said.
It became clear that Tilburg University’s reputation has suffered from the Stapel affair. Some people said they had their doubts about the university’s reputation, and others named Bovekerk ‘Diederik Stapel II’.
Despite the criticism, arabist Jan Jaap de Ruijter stands firm. According to him the thesis is ‘academically brilliant’ and he would like to debate with those who disagree.
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