Transformation spotlight on Stellenbosch

[Vox Populi Vox Dei]

Cape Town - The transformation spotlight has turned to Stellenbosch University (SU), where a new movement has emerged to tackle “institutionalised racism” at the university.

Open Stellenbosch (OS) - a group of students, staff and faculty workers from the university - held an open discussion on campus on Wednesday to highlight racial exclusion and the university’s language policy.

“The current language policy at Stellenbosch University belies the university’s own vision statement in so far as it excludes many students by privileging the Afrikaans language as a medium of instruction.

“We further hold that this privileging of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction translates itself to a privileging beyond the classroom and simply communication.

“It extends into the social fabric of our residences and other shared spaces, where black people are consequently maligned,” said OS spokesman Lwazi Pakade.

Pakade said OS was formed recently due to a lack of action on the part of university management in relation to incidents of racial assault and ongoing racism at the university and in the town.

SU spokesman Martin Viljoen admitted that the university’s campus culture had been unwelcoming in the past, but management has since moved to remedy this.

“The management of Stellenbosch is wholeheartedly committed to transformation and recognises the need to accelerate and deepen the process of systemic transformation.

The university is up front about this and has stated that progress has been made with regard to access and success, institutional language flexibility, integration, welcoming practices and student support, but challenges with regard to high-level representation and perceptions of the institutional culture remain,” he said.

Pakade said OS had been inspired by the Rhodes Must Fall movement, a similar organisation at UCT, which inspired the recent removal of a statue of Cecil John Rhodes from that campus after highlighting transformation problems at the university.

“Taking the language policy as a point of departure, we intend to reframe discussions about transformation to include aspects of institutionalised racism, as well as acknowledging the flagrant racism which is the result both of the legacies of apartheid as well as colonialism.

“We insist on purging the oppressive remnants of apartheid from this institution,” Pakade said.

Viljoen said the SU council had approved a new language policy in November last year, offering English as a language of tuition the same status as Afrikaans at the university.

Meanwhile, the UCT council has decided to apply for the permanent removal of the Rhodes statue from the campus.

The university also announced, following a council meeting on Wednesday night, that public consultation for the permanent removal of the statue had begun.

UCT spokeswoman Gerda Kruger said Heritage Western Cape had given the university an emergency permit for the temporary removal and safekeeping of the statue on March 31. She said the application process includes a statutory assessment of the history, context and heritage significance of the statue.

Comments for the public process can be sent to [email protected]

http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-afr...tlight-on-stellenbosch-1.1846961#.VTEzKNLLeUk

 

[Fulcrum29]

SU spokesman Martin Viljoen admitted that the university’s campus culture had been unwelcoming in the past, but management has since moved to remedy this.

It is interesting how the management at these institutions are suddenly agreeing with change. Stellenbosch University in the past stood to the culture and amended (50/50) where possible, now they are looking into a radical change.

The people I asked at UCT and at SU are all giving me the no comment notion on any question I asked.

The same with HHH -> http://www.districtmail.com/238967/news-details/hhh-se-naam-moet-dalk-verander-word (AFR)

 

[Nicodeamus]

How did transformation work at UJ/ TUT/ Wits Technicon?

 

[Vox Populi Vox Dei]

I didn't go to Stellenbosch, but I'm pretty sure many non-Afrikaans speaking people pass every year, as all lecture notes are provided in English.

 

[alternate]

All study material is in english.
If a class is in Afrikaans there are translators that sit in the lecture and you can listen to the lecture in english, you can ask the lecturer anything in english and they will clarify it if you need them too.

There were about 8 people with that "Rhodes must fall" banner outside the library on Wednesday. They said they were from UCT...

I have never heard of Open Stellenbosch before, they seem to be some opportunistic idiots. It looks like their ring leader Pakade is studying a BA in International Studies so he must be trying to get his career started.

I know many people of all skin colours and none of them have said anything like this guy is going on about.
I would love to see this group try cause chaos. They would probably get a giant klap

 

[JimmyRott]

I didn't go to Stellenbosch, but I'm pretty sure many non-Afrikaans speaking people pass every year, as all lecture notes are provided in English.

I am an Afrikaans speaker that attended Stellenbosch University and took all my course notes and exams in English as comprehensive notes were often (and text books never) not available in Afrikaans and I didn't want to write different exams in different languages. I really don't think the fact that I could attend some lectures in Afrikaans really benefited me academically at all.

 

[Wasabee!]

Africans have this way of getting used to stuff.

Like getting electricity and water for free, burning people (xenophobia, throwing stones and burning tyres on roads, having children they can't financially sustain and more recently demanding statues be taken down.

Oh well I guess we just need to shrug our shoulders and keep paying while they play the race card. Funnily enough they even use it on other blacks from other countries lol.

 

[Muki]

I didn't go to Stellenbosch, but I'm pretty sure many non-Afrikaans speaking people pass every year, as all lecture notes are provided in English.

Im busy with my post grad at Stellies currently. Afrikaans is not my first language but I am able to understand the basics. The lecturers would normally asked at the beginning of the course which language is preferred, and even if one person requests english they stick to english. They give all the notes in english,write english exams and if you ask the lecturer a question they will respond in english.

Dont really see the point of this, besides gaining news coverage.

 

[Zewp]

The t-option isn't optimal at SU. Some classes are not fully available in english, but what do people expect? SU was an afrikaans university for decades. That doesn't just change overnight. If as an english person you're not willing to put up with teething issues, you should have gone to UCT.

Also, I'm soooo surprised they turned this into a race issue.

Meanwhile everywhere on campus you see mixed groups of friends and mixed couples and better integration. It's just a few malcontents, like this buffoon studying an entry level BA in International Studies, who are looking to spark drama.

 

[JimmyRott]

The t-option isn't optimal at SU. Some classes are not fully available in english, but what do people expect? SU was an afrikaans university for decades. That doesn't just change overnight. If as an english person you're not willing to put up with teething issues, you should have gone to UCT.

Also, I'm soooo surprised they turned this into a race issue.

Meanwhile everywhere on campus you see mixed groups of friends and mixed couples and better integration. It's just a few malcontents, like this buffoon studying an entry level BA in International Studies, who are looking to spark drama.

Yup, the rest are too busy studying their (english) course notes.

 

[Zewp]

The most ironic thing is I started BA International Studies at Stellenbosch in 2010. I didn't continue it because it was a waste of time like most BA degrees. However, I had every single one of my classes in English that year. There was not a single module of that course where I did not have a choice between english and afrikaans.

Some of the lecturers were not fully versed in english and notes were sometimes a bit wonky, but they were in english nonetheless.

 

[Schavuit]

“The current language policy at Stellenbosch University belies the university’s own vision statement in so far as it excludes many students by privileging the Afrikaans language as a medium of instruction.

And excluding people who want to study in Afrikaans in an Afrikaans majority area is ok? Just bugger off to a different university.