As with most universities in the Netherlands, the VU University Amsterdam suffers from financial underfunding. All faculties and all departments at the VU are asked to take measures to deal with this problem.

For the Department of Mathematics a committee of applied mathematicians has put forward a proposal to close the Geometry Section, which consists of six tenured positions and focuses on algebraic K theory, algebraic topology, and general/geometric topology. At the same time, some of the funds freed up by the abolition of the Geometry Section are to be used for the creation of two additional positions in applied mathematics.

A petition, „Save pure mathematics at the VU University Amsterdam” is available at

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-pure-mathematics-at-the-vu-university-amsterdam.html