New name for the Pieter de la Court building: vote now!
The Pieter de la Court building will be given a new name. This was decided by the university's Executive Board in the summer of 2025, at the request of the FSW Faculty Board. The name will no longer be used for our faculty's main building or the student medal.
Election for a new name on November 18, 19 and 20, 2025!
On 19 September, we called on all staff and students to contribute their creative ideas. We would like to extend our sincere thanks for the 34 submitted nominations!
A committee consisting of representatives from the Faculty Board, the Faculty Council (one student and one staff member), and the Executive Board reviewed the nominations for suitability, resulting in a shortlist of 8 candidate names.
Reasons for including a name in the ballot included:
- Originality (not too many other buildings with a similar name)
- Suitability within the university’s portfolio of names
- Not overly referring to a single user or specific institute
- No (negative) associations or confusion with other organisations or brands
- Pronounceability for both Dutch and non-Dutch speakers
Make your vote count!
From 18 to 20 November, all staff and students of FSW will be able to vote for their top 3 favourite names for the building. Voting will take place via the university’s digital voting system. All eligible voters will receive an email with a link (check your spam folder on 17 or 18 November!), after which you can log in using your university account. If you do not receive an email or experience any access issues, please contact secretaris@fsw.leidenuniv.nl.
After the election, the Faculty Board and the Executive Board will make the formal decision, after which the new name will be revealed and implemented both physically and digitally. More information will follow in due course.
Reason for the name change
The publication Was Pieter de la Court really a ‘free thinker’? by colleagues Arthur Pormes and Karwan Fatah-Black in Mare prompted the name change. This was followed by a careful consultation and decision-making process with internal and external experts. At the same time, reports were published on the preliminary investigation into the involvement of Leiden University and the Municipality of Leiden in colonialism and slavery.
Student, entrepreneur, freethinker
Pieter de la Court was a seventeenth-century student at our university, an entrepreneur, a champion of democracy in the city and of economic and religious freedom and rights for migrants; reasons for the faculty to choose De la Court as the namesake for our building at the time.
WIC shareholder
However, the above-mentioned publication and reports confirm that the cloth industry, in which Pieter de la Court played a leading role during his years in Leiden, had strong ties to colonialism and slavery. After moving to Amsterdam, De la Court became a major shareholder and attendee at the meetings of the Board of the Dutch West India Company, which played a major role in the Dutch participation in the slave trade.
Current knowledge
In light of this, the Faculty Board, in consultation with the Faculty Council and the scientific directors of the institutes, believes that the naming of the building and the image of Pieter de la Court do not contribute to the diverse and inclusive knowledge community that our faculty aspires to be. The plaque at the entrance to the building bearing the name and image of De la Court has been relocated to the outer wall of lecture room SC.01 within the building. A reference to this information will be added soon.