Help choose a name for the new Leiden University building
Did you know that a completely new building is to be built on the site of the current Reuvens Building in Leiden, next to the Lipsius Building on Reuvensplaats? In April 2026, the Faculty of Humanities began developing plans for a modern, energy-neutral building featuring an attractive café, outdoor terrace, central student service desks, study spaces and a living room. Construction or refurbishment is expected to begin in 2029, with the building scheduled for completion in mid-2031.
Leiden Law School
This project is important for our faculty too. The large lecture rooms in the Lipsius Building are now frequently used for Leiden Law School teaching, but these will eventually disappear. These teaching activities will be moved to the new building, which both Leiden Law School and the Faculty of Humanities will use. The building will also be a central meeting place for students from across the university. Colleagues from our faculty are therefore working closely with the Faculty of Humanities, Student and Educational Affairs, and the Real Estate Directorate as part of the project team.
What will we call the building?
The new building needs a new name, and Leiden Law School staff are invited to offer suggestions for a name. As the design process gets underway in January 2027, the building's name must be decided beforehand. We are therefore looking for staff members from both faculties to join a naming panel.
The panel will meet on Monday 2 November at 16.00 and will provide advice to the faculty boards and the Reuvens Steering Committee. The starting point will be an existing shortlist of names from which the names Herta Mohr and Aleida Nijland were previously selected. You are also welcome to propose an alternative name, provided it is supported by a well-researched rationale, for example based on a literature review.
Criteria for the new name have been established by the university's Executive Board:
- it should commemorate a woman;
- who is deceased;
- and in her life achieved a certain standing and made a demonstrable contribution to society, scholarship, or the arts in Leiden, the Netherlands, or internationally;
- it should contribute to diversity in nationality or background; examples include an (international) scholar, writer, artist, poet or alumna.
Would you like to join the panel? If so, please register by 15 October via:
If you do not wish to join the panel but would like to submit a well-substantiated alternative name for the panel's consideration, please use the same form