On October 3, 2023, the Cursor website went black after Cursor's reporters experienced a restraint on press freedom and the editor-in-chief was removed from his position. The TU/e Executive Board (CvB) was found to have violated internal rules regarding Cursor's press freedom, an investigative committee concluded last June.

Now there is a new editorial statute that guarantees Cursor's independent position as a university press medium. An important change from the old statute is that sensitive articles no longer need to be submitted to the editorial board before publication. The editor-in-chief is responsible for everything Cursor publishes and is accountable to the editorial board for its journalistic performance (in retrospect). 

No PR vehicle

Another important change is that Cursor's editorial team is no longer (partly) led by the ‘interests of the university’. The new statute states: “Cursor explicitly serves the target group: students, support staff and academic staff. Cursor is not a public relations vehicle for the university, just as it is not a promotion platform for any particular interest.”  

The University Council today approved the new editorial statute. Although the editorial board has been functioning in accordance with the new statute for some time, it will not officially take effect until the CvB has signed the document. That is possible now that the University Council has approved it. 

In a comment, the CvB says it considers Cursor's function as a university magazine “very important.” The Executive Board “attaches great importance to the journalistically independent way of working.”  

The new editorial statute describes the relations between the editorial board, the editorial team and the publisher. Formally, the CvB is the publisher of Cursor, but in daily practice that task is delegated to the director of the Communications Expertise Center (CEC). The publisher takes care of the organizational, financial and personnel embedding of the editorial staff of Cursor. The publisher is not in charge of the journalism. 

The University Council has not yet approved the appointment of new members to the editorial board. This council oversees the journalistic conduct of Cursor and guarantees compliance with the editorial statute. Consent to the appointment of the new editorial board will follow shortly.