The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASoS) is more than just a faculty. It is full of remarkable historic places, where people from all over the world come together. Join us as we explore some of the most beautiful, striking and even spooky corners of FASoS.

The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASoS) is home to perhaps the most diverse group of students and staff in the entire university. FASoS brings together people from a range of disciplines, including history, political science, philosophy and literature. It is also UM’s most international faculty: around 77 per cent of students and 42 per cent of staff come from abroad.

The faculty also stands out for the number of women working there, says Prof. Dr Sally Wyatt, Professor of Digital Cultures at UM: “More than half of the professors and almost all the heads of department are women. That also says something about our culture: FASoS is incredibly open and everyone is welcome.”

The faculty was founded in 1994. Initially, it consisted solely of the Cultural Studies programme. Following the establishment of European Studies in 2000, FASoS suddenly grew rapidly. Today, it offers four bachelor’s programmes and eight master’s programmes, including two research master’s degrees.

The Greek Alley

On your way to the FASoS garden, you pass through what is known as the Greek Alley (‘De Griekse Gracht’): a narrow passageway between two buildings. The spot immediately catches the eye thanks to the large blue-and-white artwork on the façade: an abstract painting by Jan van der Ploeg. For many people, the work is reminiscent of the Greek flag.

“Everyone knows the Greek Alley”, says Schoonbrood. “One day, the owner of Bandito Espresso and I were having a coffee together. We joked that we should give the alley an official name. We had an original ANWB street sign made and placed it at the entrance to the path."

The PLANT

We’re moving at lightning speed from the past to the digital future. That’s because The PLANT is where FASoS staff and students can go for digital support and tools. Think, for example, of virtual reality (VR) or 3D scanning.

The aim? To give faculty members the technical skills and confidence to get started with digital research and teaching. The idea here is to explore and experiment. It’s no coincidence that The PLANT stands for Playground and Laboratory for New Technologies.

The PLANT is spread across three spaces, each with its own layout designed to facilitate creative and digital collaboration:

• The Greenhouse: a co-working space and venue for project meetings

• The Stem: the research space for computational research

• The Field: a flexible space for seminars and workshops

Artwork featuring and created by staff

At FASoS, staff members are literally part of the building. If you enter Grote Gracht 90–92 and turn immediately left, you’ll find yourself in a stairwell full of memories. On the walls hang team photos from various years, featuring both current and former staff members.

There are also two special works of art on display. On the right-hand side hangs an image of the Hof van Tilly. From a distance, it looks like an ordinary photograph, but if you look closer, you’ll discover that the image is made up of many small portraits of staff members.

In the same hall hangs another piece: a large painting created by the staff themselves, in honour of the faculty’s 15th anniversary. It consists of various small squares that have been filled in creatively. Together they form a colourful patchwork quilt.

In one of the squares, you’ll find a little ghost – a nod to the FASoS ghost, which you can read more about next.

The ghost of FASoS

The story goes that a ghost roams the first floor of Grote Gracht 90-92 at night. It is a well-known legend, but few know how it came about.

Schoonbrood explains: “Two security guards were doing their evening rounds of the buildings. They were sweeping their torches across the corridors, as all the lights were already off. When they went up the stairs by the gym, they saw a chair standing in front of the door to the corridor. They pushed it into a corner and carried on. A moment later, they heard a noise. They turned around – and the chair was back in front of the door.”

They couldn’t explain how that had happened. “That morning, a representative from the security firm was in my office”, says Schoonbrood. “He told me this story, and I thought: is this real, or am I dreaming? The two security guards called in sick and never returned to work here. And that’s how the legend of the FASoS ghost came about.”

FASoS Anthology: The Stories We Tell

One thing that definitely isn’t a myth, is that there is a treasure hidden in the FASoS garden. A commemorative tree was planted during the faculty’s 30th anniversary. Buried next to that tree is a time capsule. Inside that capsule, you will find, among other things, FASoS Anthology: The Stories We Tell, a collection of creative non-fiction by researchers from the faculty.

Wyatt herself wrote one of the stories in the book. “We were awarded a small grant to find new ways of communicating our research”, she explains. The faculty wanted to take a different approach to the usual. All sorts of wild ideas were floated – from podcasts to an exhibition.

But in the end, they went for a different idea. “Within the faculty, we have people who write creatively and have even published novels and poetry collections”, says Wyatt. “That’s why we decided to tell our research story in the form of creative non-fiction.”

Each researcher wrote their own story and received feedback from colleagues with writing experience. “It was great fun to do. The launch of the Dutch translation took place at Boekhandel de Dominicanen in Maastricht and was very well attended.”

Fancy reading the stories? You can read them here.