Dirk Reynders steps down as director of AMFI

Dirk Reynders, the director of Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences
(AMFI), is stepping down, according to various media reports. The
announcement comes about six months after an investigation revealed an
unsafe culture at the school. Earlier, students demanded Reynders’
departure.

Last year, it came out that the students and teachers felt unsafe so it
was promised by the school and Reynders that this issue would be improved.
Reynders has since announced his departure in a letter to employees of the
fashion school as the director has now decided that he is not the right
person for the transition.

“In recent months, however, I increasingly realised that the necessary
focus on the transition of the AMFI organisation offers me little room for
the content of the training. I notice that my personal motivations and
qualities mainly lie in the substantive aspects of education, research and
fashion. That is why I came to the beautiful fashion institute AMFI at the
time. But something else is really needed now,” said Reynders. The director
emphasises that necessary changes have already been initiated at AMFI.

AMFI fashion school director resigns

The ball for his resignation started to roll at the beginning of the
year last year when it turned out that fashion entrepreneur and AMFI alumni
Martijn N. was accused of transgressive behaviour. He would also have
exhibited this behaviour when he was still part of the training. After the
investigation into N. by the NRC and Parool, many messages came out from
students who feel or have felt unsafe at AMFI. Dutch news channel RTLZ then
spoke with just under 30 students in an investigation into the situation on
AMFI and published the findings. An independent investigation was set up to
explore the culture at the fashion school and the verdict came in June: the
report underlines the unsafe culture at the training.

This article was originally published on FashionUnited.nl and it was
translated by Andrea Byrne.

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