In February 2020, a group of students from across the Netherlands came together. They shared one common concern: universities’ lack of action on the climate, ecological and social crises of our time. It was a year to be characterised by the California wildfires, Black Lives Matter protests and the corona pandemic. They had begun to connect the dots – and saw that something had to change. It was obvious to them that the universities that provided them with their education were turning a blind eye to these crises. More so, they were shunning their own responsibility within them. As a provider of knowledge to society, education to young people and as institutes with significant political clout, the students agreed this could not go on any longer if they, and the rest of their generation, were to have a fair and livable future. So that summer dozens of students wrote a manifesto. A manifesto with a strong scientific foundation, which calls on universities to act on the climate and ecological crises and its corresponding social injustices. A manifesto which calls on universities to acknowledge their own role in these crises, and their responsibility to be actors for change. A manifesto written by members of the academic community, for the academic community. 

University Rebellion was born. University Rebellion consists of students, university staff and academics and challenges universities to act according to their responsibility, holding them accountable by organizing and coordinating decentralized actions against failing university policy.