Green Office opens its doors on campus: ‘Incubator for sustainable ideas’
The Green Office will provide the university with a central hub for sustainable ideas and initiatives. ‘We want to challenge students and staff with new ideas, research, and education,’ said Vice-President Wilma de Koning during the opening.
With a slight change to the schedule, the doors of the new Green Office on campus opened this morning at 10:15 a.m. The opening was brought forward at the last minute because the activist group Palestine Solidarity Tilburg announced last week that it intended to disrupt the ceremony with protests.
Vice-President Wilma de Koning performed the official opening. In her speech, she linked sustainability to global challenges such as conflict and climate change. ‘This is an important topic,’ she emphasized. ‘The university wants to challenge students and staff with new ideas, research, and education. Feel welcome to share your proposals with us here.’
Sustainability
With the Green Office, the university also aims to showcase the wide range of sustainable initiatives already in place, ranging from the circular economy to social sustainability and responsible governance. It’s a place where staff and students come together to share knowledge, develop plans, and, above all, get started.
The Green Office is located in the former Starbucks, right next to the Albert Heijn supermarket. Step inside, and you’ll encounter a warm, living-room atmosphere rather than a sterile meeting room. The sofas, chairs, and tables have all had a previous life in other university buildings. Now, they’re being repurposed here, perfectly in keeping with the sustainable approach.
Green resolutions
Student assistant Hugo Uitdehaag shows Univers how visitors to the Green Office can leave their own green resolutions: on a note shaped like a leaf, which they then pin to a large, tree-shaped board. ‘This way, you inspire others to behave more greenly,’ he explains.
But it doesn’t stop at good intentions. The Green Office also offers space for meetings, workshops, seminars, and film nights on sustainability themes directly related to education and research. For those who prefer to find inspiration in peace, there’s a Books4Life bookshelf, filled with secondhand books you can take home for free or to which you can donate your own old copy.
