Residences, research buildings, and of course a great deal of the natural landscape, are threatened by the 'Noordwesttangent', a ring road to be built on the eastern edge of the campus, if the plans get the go-ahead.
One of the threatened buildings is the Biomagnetic Centre where professor Riet Peters and her PhD-students 'do biomagnetic measurements on really incredibly small fields. We try to avoid the disturbances caused by machines or cars driving by.' She asserts that moving to another spot, if it can be found, will be a costly procedure.
Another building, and the adjoining testing field, that will disappear under the asphalt is that of the Working Group Development Techniques.
Not only buildings, but also the nesting grounds of a number of protected birds will disappear because of the road. Ariane van Raesfeld, chairperson of the UT Green Committee explains that European and national environmental protection rules are involved when building a motorway. These forbid the disturbance of nesting grounds. 'Moreover, the three streams running over the campus terrain, to be cut in half by the road, form an ecological connection zone.'
A protest walk on campus last week was one in a series of activities to bring about a public discussion between the proponents and opponents of the planned motorway. And, to get the UT's executive Board to take a stand.
