Rhuari'luana Hankinson-Kempf receives Pieter de la Court medal 2023
The Pieter de la Court Medal is awarded annually by the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences for an initiative by a student or group of students that, over the last academic year, has made a particular contribution to at least one of the Pieter de la Court themes. This year, this medal has been awarded to Rhuari'luana Hankinson-Kempf.
About the winner
She stood out the most for the jury, in light of her commitment to Leiden University's LGBTQIA+ community. More locally focused but with great individual, emotional impact for those involved, she tries to raise space and awareness for our students from the LGBTQIA+ community.
Together with an enthusiastic group of fellow students, Rhuari'luana worked on the launch of OUT Academia, a collaborative think-tank consisting of informed students and members of the LGBTQIA+ community. The OUT Academia platforming and project planning network stands for establishing and maintaining Brave Spaces for the Diversity of Orientations, Identities, Expressions and Abilities at Leiden University, in collaboration with the D&I Network, POPcorner and Queer University Leiden. It facilitates more awareness and transparancy and eases student collaboration regarding relevant academic and extracurricular projects.
Therefore, this medal is also in honour of her group of fellow students who, with commitment and passion, work together on social safety and inclusion. In awarding the PdlC medal, the jury also emphatically commends all their efforts.
Reviewing of the name Pieter de la Court
The awarding of the Medal was postponed this year. It was brought to the attention of our community (via an article in Mare by Karwan Fatah-Black and Arthur Pormes), that the history of Pieter de la Court also has a side that makes us question the name of this medal, especially around one of its themes: Diversity and Inclusion.
Therefore, we are in preparation for a dialogue on how to deal with these facts, especially in relation to the name of our building and this medal. More information on this will follow soon.
« Being queer is to resist, to try to exist in a space that is not made for us ».
The medal has two sides
Upon receiving the medal, Rhuari'luana addressed this controversy and compared it to the diversity movement : « Like both sides of the medal, queering the university is the other side of decolonisation »
She mentioned the ongoing process and struggle all parties involved experience; meaning well but sometimes striking the wrong chords.
We hope this medal contributes to carving out the space that is neccessary.
Congratulations to Rhuari'luana Hankinson-Kempf!