MESSAGE FROM THE ACTING VICE-CHANCELLOR AND PRINCIPAL, PROFESSOR ANDREW CROUCH

Dear Colleagues and Students

I am aware that many staff members were affected in multiple ways during the student protests that took place in the last two days. We are aware that students have started protesting again this morning and have blocked some entrances. The Senior Executive Team and I are working to clear these entrances.

I have had reports of intimidation, the vandalism of vehicles, altercations involving staff and students and more generally a frustration at not being able to move freely on campus.

I would like to personally apologise to each and every one who was affected by the protest. The illegal protest was a violation of your rights as staff members of the University and as citizens of this country. Your safety and security is paramount and we will do whatever is in our power to ensure that you remain safe and sound.

We have received criticism from many quarters, and especially from staff who were prevented from leaving. I would like to explain our responses in four areas.

1. The original protest was planned to run from 12:00 – 14:00 yesterday but students started the illegal sit-in from 07:00. This was unexpected and we had to deal with the situation on the ground in order to try to calm the situation. The decision was thus made to suspend lectures for the day.  

2. This protest action followed a sit-in at the Wits Business School on Tuesday night where students were demonstrating against Wits’ expansion plans in Parktown which would see PKV2 shutting down. This was a peaceful protest and a memorandum was handed over which was accepted.

3. We tried negotiating with the student leaders and others throughout the day in order to try to reach an amicable solution. We felt that tensions would be heightened if we called in the police. We also issued a warning to students that if the behaviour continued we would take swifter action today and institute our disciplinary and other processes. The full text of the statement is available at www.wits.ac.za   

4. It did take us some time to determine what an appropriate response would be and to communicate this to staff and students. We consulted with Senate and Council who overwhelmingly supported our stance and in some instances encouraged a more forceful approach.

This morning we have commissioned additional security at all the gates and have the police on stand-by if they are required. We cannot allow the rights of 32 500 students and 5 000 staff to be violated by a group of 300 – 500 students.  

The Vice-Chancellor is currently at the Higher Education Transformation Summit in Durban where a key session will focus on finding solutions to issues around student finance. We are confident that this national conversation will contribute towards addressing the long-term solutions to this critical problem. 

We appeal for your support and patience as we manage this very difficult, delicate situation. We thank you for your loyalty and commitment to Wits.  Once again, I apologise to all those who were affected by the protest action.

We will keep you updated as the day progresses.

Prof. Andrew Crouch

Acting Vice-Chancellor and Principal
Wits University

15 October 2015

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Update on student protests - 15 October 2015 -11:00

15 October 2015

MESSAGE FROM THE ACTING VICE-CHANCELLOR AND PRINCIPAL, PROFESSOR ANDREW CROUCH

Dear Colleagues and Students

The student protest continues this morning on our campuses and many entrances and exits have been blocked. We again apologise for any inconvenience caused.

We are working on clearing these entrances as quickly as we can, and if needs be with the assistance of the South African Police Services. We have consulted with SAPS on our respective roles and the SAPS has agreed to manage the parameter security. They will assist the University in allowing students, staff and visitors to move freely on and off our campuses. We will inform you as soon as these gates are open.

The academic programme will continue as planned and any disruptions will be managed on a case by case basis. Should any disruption occur, please remain calm, allow students to leave the venue and report the incident to Campus Control on (011) 717-4444 or (011) 717-6666 as well as to your relevant Head of Department, Dean or Head of School. Please also consult with your relevant Head of Department or School if you need to suspend or postpone any academic activities.

We are also open to talking to the students and other groups who are protesting in order to find an amicable solution to this matter. This offer has been made to the students.

Please note that the Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Habib is in Durban for the remainder of this week attending the Summit on Higher Education where he is working towards finding lasting solutions to resolve the student funding issues in the higher education sector.

We will keep you posted as things progress throughout the day. Please visit www.wits.ac.za for the latest update or follow @Wits_News and @Wits_University on Twitter for regular information. Also check your Wits Inbox for emails from the University.

Thank you

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Update 2

Update on protest: Notice issued

15 October 2015

MESSAGE FROM THE ACTING VICE-CHANCELLOR AND PRINCIPAL

Dear Students and Colleagues

We have been trying for two days to negotiate with the groups of students who have staged a protest on our campuses, disrupted lectures, vandalised infrastructure and vehicles and intimidated members of the Wits community. Our staff and students are still being prevented from accessing and leaving our campuses. To this end, we draw your attention to thenotice (see below) which is circulated in hard copy and electronic form, which stipulates that no one is allowed to block access and egress points, stairwells etc.

The Dean of Students, Dr Pamela Dube and I have just addressed the group of students at some of the entrances and the protestors are still refusing to budge. In keeping with our obligation to ensure the safety and security of our staff and students, we are thus left with no option but to seek assistance from the South African Police Services to clear our entry and exit points, so that our staff and students can leave our campuses safely.

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Update 3:

MESSAGE FROM THE ACTING VICE-CHANCELLOR AND PRINCIPAL

University activities suspended for Friday, 16 October 2015

Dear Colleagues and Students

We are doing all that we can to diffuse the current situation on campus. We are making another attempt to engage with the students at the main gates on the Braamfontein campuses now. We are confident that the students will stand down from the main gates shortly. In this regard, we are again trying to get an indication of the number of staff and students still on the Braamfontein campuses – please let us know via [email protected] how many people are still on campus and in which buildings you are situated.

We have taken a decision to postpone all University activities on all our campuses tomorrow, except for the Medical School Campus. The Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences will communicate directly with staff and students regarding the activities planned for the Faculty tomorrow.

Thank you for your patience in this matter. We will keep you updated.

Statements issued by Professor Andrew Crouch, Acting Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Wits University, 15 October 2015