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<h1>Transformation spotlight on Stellenbosch</h1>
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April 17 2015 at 03:48pm <br>
By Carlo Petersen
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<span class="">INDEPENDENT MEDIA</span>
<span class="">The transformation spotlight
has turned to Stellenbosch University (SU), where a new movement has
emerged to tackle institutionalised racism at the university.</span>
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<p>Cape Town - The transformation spotlight has turned to Stellenbosch
University (SU), where a new movement has emerged to tackle
“institutionalised racism” at the university. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>“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. </p>
<p>“We further hold that this privileging of Afrikaans as a medium of
instruction translates itself to a privileging beyond the classroom and
simply communication. </p>
<p>“It extends into the social fabric of our residences and other shared
spaces, where black people are consequently maligned,” said OS
spokesman Lwazi Pakade. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<img src="http://www.iol.co.za/polopoly_fs/copy-of-ca-p4-verwoerd-plague-0808-1.1846960%21/image/1206576241.jpg_gen/derivatives/box_300/1206576241.jpg" class="" alt="Copy of ca p4 Verwoerd Plague _0808" title="">
<span class="">The Verwoerd plague in the department of Accounting and Stats building at Stellenbosch University. Photo: Cindy Waxa</span>
<span class=""><span class="">CAPE ARGUS</span></span>
<p>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. </p>
<p>“The management of Stellenbosch is wholeheartedly committed to
transformation and recognises the need to accelerate and deepen the
process of systemic transformation. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>“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. </p>
<p>“We insist on purging the oppressive remnants of apartheid from this institution,” Pakade said. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the UCT council has decided to apply for the permanent removal of the Rhodes statue from the campus. </p>
<p>The university also announced, following a council meeting on
Wednesday night, that public consultation for the permanent removal of
the statue had begun. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>Comments for the public process can be sent to <a href="mailto:rhodes.statue@chand.co.za">rhodes.statue@chand.co.za</a> </p>
<p><a href="mailto:carlo.petersen@inl.co.za">carlo.petersen@inl.co.za</a> <br></p><p><a href="http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/western-cape/transformation-spotlight-on-stellenbosch-1.1846961#.VTJvJpOFLa8">http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/western-cape/transformation-spotlight-on-stellenbosch-1.1846961#.VTJvJpOFLa8</a><br></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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