The Groninger Studenten Corps Vindicat atque Polit (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

for ''Uphold and Refine'' (lit. ''(The sword) avenges and (the file) scrapes'')) is the oldest

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

student A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementar ...

association and was founded on February the 4th, 1815 as a reaction to attacks on students from local citizens. The first rector of the senate was B.J. Winter. With nearly 2500 members Vindicat is the second largest student organization in

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

, a city in the north of The Netherlands. Vindicat's society building has a prominent place at the central square of Groningen and is called Mutua Fides (''Mutual Trust or Confidence''). Its current building is relatively new and was completed in 2014 as part of a large redevelopment in the city centre. The old building was demolished in the same year. In 2005, a copy of the old ''Mutua Fides'' has been built in the

miniature city A miniature park is a display of miniature buildings and models, usually as a recreational and tourist attraction open to the public. A miniature park may contain a model of a single city or town, often called a miniature city or model village ...

Madurodam Madurodam (, opened 1952) is a miniature park and tourist attraction in the Scheveningen district of The Hague in the Netherlands. It is home to a range of 1:25 scale model replicas of famous Dutch landmarks, historical cities and large develop ...

. Notable (former) members include

princess Christina of the Netherlands Princess Christina of the Netherlands (Maria Christina; 18 February 1947 – 16 August 2019) was the youngest of four daughters of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld. Early life Princess Christina, who wa ...

prince Maurits of Orange-Nassau, van Vollenhoven Prince Maurits Willem Pieter Hendrik of Orange-Nassau, van Vollenhoven (born 17 April 1968) is a member of the Dutch royal family as the eldest son of Princess Margriet of the Netherlands and Pieter van Vollenhoven. Before the succession of his ...

prince Bernhard of Orange-Nassau, van Vollenhoven Bernhard Lucas Emmanuel, Prince of Orange-Nassau, van VollenhovenPrince Be ...

, and

Wim Duisenberg Willem Frederik "Wim" Duisenberg (; 9 July 1935 – 31 July 2005) was a Dutch politician and economist who served as President of the European Central Bank from 1 June 1998 until 31 October 2003. He was a member of the Labour Party (PvdA). Du ...

Controversy

Vindicat has been involved in numerous incidents which have reached national news broadcasts. Most notably, in 1997 a hazing incident caused the death of 18-year-old Reinout Pfeiffer. This led to new rules and guidelines with respect to hazing-related alcohol usage and reporting of incidents. In 2016 the Dutch minister of education

Jet Bussemaker Mariëtte "Jet" Bussemaker (born 15 January 1961) is a retired Dutch politician. A member of the Labour Party (PvdA), she served as Minister of Education, Culture and Science from 5 November 2012 to 26 October 2017 in the Second Rutte cabinet. ...

called the response from the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen in the Netherlands. Founded in 1614, the university is th ...

to another hazing incident "completely insufficient", which resulted in a short-lived proposal to completely ban all hazing activities for all student societies in Groningen. In the evaluation a committee instituted by the University of Groningen called for 'large cultural changes'. After further accusations of disorderly behaviour in a restaurant, Vindicat's yearly subsidy from the

was temporary suspended in September 2017. In March 2020, during the early stage of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, 900 members of Vindicat travelled to northern Italy for a ski vacation. During the trip the governmental covid travel safety advice changed to 'only if necessary'. The large perceived corona risk motivated the Party for Freedom to ask questions in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

. The students had to return earlier after the trip received widespread national attention.

Images of Vindicat and Mutua Fides

File:Mutua Fides.gif, Main entrance of the old building, demolished in 2014 File:Gilt Vindicat book.jpg, Cover of an 1854 Vindicat students' song book

References

External links

* {{Coord, 53.218717, N, 6.568542, E, type:landmark, display=title Groningen (city) Organisations based in Groningen (province) Student societies in the Netherlands