In that statement, the Executive Board said that “we are aware that Mr. Regterschot has regularly come to the TU/e campus for many years to tutor students, despite the fact that he has not held a position at TU/e since 1995.” According to the statement, the termination of Regterschot’s employment contract was a careful process at the time. “Mr. Regterschot subsequently challenged the dismissal via various authorities, with the university being vindicated in the district court (1996) and ultimately in the Central Appeals Tribunal (1998), as reflected in public records.”

Regterschot, who could already be found tutoring at Luna this Monday morning at 8:30 a.m. in his regular spot under the stairs (see main photo), says the effect of the article surprised him, too. “It got so many positive reactions; and then there’s the donation campaign which so many people have already contributed to.”

Tutoring at Luna

Among other things, the NRC article describes in detail the circumstances under which Regterschot (64), who is a familiar figure to many in the university community, currently has to conduct his tutoring sessions. At a table near the entrance to Luna, under the staircase to the second floor. More than ten years ago, when the Built Environment department was still using the Matrix building, Regterschot could be found there on an almost daily basis and in a permanent classroom, tutoring large groups - mostly Built Environment students - in Calculus. Although this Monday morning, Regterschot said that he certainly does not think of it as “just tutoring.” I actually teach this course to those students.”

Cursor also interviewed him about this at the time, with the department’s then-student advisor Willem Buurke saying he was pleased with this form of extra instruction. Buurke: “He helps many students who we cannot provide additional guidance ourselves. In doing so, he makes it possible for many students to continue with the program who would otherwise drop out.” Buurke also makes an appearance in the NRC piece, saying that he thinks Regterschot “has made the university a lot of money over all these years,” given the number of students he has helped get through their studies faster.

In the past, Cursor also tried to shed light on Regterschot’s employment status several times, but was told each time that his employment contract had been officially terminated in 1995. However, Regterschot told NRC that he has been employed for all these years, and continues to be, because he supposedly never received an official letter of resignation in 1995.

A great deal of contact

The Board’s statement from Friday reads “since Mr. Regterschot’s dismissal, there has been a great deal of contact between successive Executive Boards and Mr. Regterschot in response to his letters (in 1997, 2000, 2001, 2010, 2017, 2020, 2021 and 2022 at the least). In each case, the Executive Board made it clear that there was no longer any employment contract. In 2010, 2017 and 2020, TU/e fully re-reviewed the case. In October 2021, TU/e received another long letter from Mr. Regterschot, again answered by the Executive Board with the heartfelt appeal to finally leave matters as they were. Until then, tutoring was allowed to be given from TU/e at one’s own initiative and under one’s own conditions, unless this involved the unauthorized use of teaching spaces.”

The Board says it believes that Mr. Regterschot gets a lot of fulfillment from teaching and that he does it out of good intentions and that they did not wish to stop him. “We have an open campus, which is an important principle for us. We do not deny access to anyone who does not mean any harm or is not causing a disturbance.”

However, the Board also says that “unfortunately, the situation surrounding Mr. Regterschot changed thereafter, particularly within the Department of the Built Environment. In TU/e buildings, he began to address an increasing number of students and employees with his story that he was a TU/e employee who had not been paid for many years.” That supposedly created feelings of a lack of safety among students and staff and that was “a turning point” for the university.

In August 2022, he was banned from tutoring in classrooms at TU/e buildings. On the campus itself, he remained welcome, according to the statement. However, all academic advisors were asked not to refer students to him, as this apparently perpetuated the incorrect notion that he provides tutoring at the request and under the responsibility of TU/e.

Donation campaign

Students in the NRC piece praise Regterschot's didactic skills, and master's student Sumya Mobder, also featured in the piece, has started a donation campaign for him. This campaign had already raised close to six thousand euros this morning. In the description of the campaign, Regterschot is called a “top teacher,” “who has spent 27 years helping students at TU/e without receiving a salary.” According to Mobder, Regterschot has been without a salary for years and is in a difficult financial situation. In August last year, he was at risk of being evicted from his home. This is why a donation campaign has been set up; to help him through this difficult time,” Mobder writes.