Two student societies at TU Delft have been reprimanded for abusive practices, including setting a student on fire and shoving another student naked into broken glass.

According to the AD, both Delftsch Studenten Corps (DSC) and Virgiel have been given an official warning by the Executive Board and DSC has been banned from the 2022 introduction week, currently ongoing, because of a previous sanction.

All of the incidents are alleged to have occurred during the previous academic year. The Volkskrant reported last year on a number of incidents, including hot candle wax being poured on students. During that incident a girl’s hair caught fire.

DSC denied knowledge of the fire incident. ‘We take every complaint and report extremely seriously,’ President Olivier Abbenhuis told student magazine Delta.

Based on the Volkskrant’s reporting, the university launched an investigation, concluding in August the society does not ‘have its affairs in order,’ according to the AD.

‘Deplorable’ incident

Virgiel called the incident – where members stripped a student naked and shoved him into broken glass – ‘deplorable’ and said they had grown a lot as an organisation since the episode.

The group was banned from the 2018 introduction week after a student suffered a severe concussion during an earlier hazing incident and the society failed to report the injury, as required, to the university.

If either group is the subject of similar complaints in the next three years, they will have their status as an official student association revoked and their financial support cut. DSC must also create a monitoring group to ensure the rights of first-year students are protected.