“Enjoy the war, the peace will be much worse”. These words were spoken by a member of the Council of Stellenbosch University (SU) during a seven hours debate yesterday on a future language policy.
A very ugly peace would have broken out had the university’s top management succeeded in getting their proposal accepted to make English the primary medium of instruction and communication and the compulsory medium of discussion at all university committees and assemblies. Afrikaans would have been driven out from the class and committee rooms, leading to a vicious backlash.
A year ago Council endorsed a policy in terms of which Afrikaans and English would enjoy equal status as a medium of instruction and communication. On 12 November the management suddenly drew a line through that language policy to come up with one that one that installed English - which it called “the common language of the country” - in a paramount position and even insisted that it could be implemented from early next year.
Since the Council, according to the Statute, has the final say on the language matters the administration seemed to show it a middle finger. To make matters worse the Senate, made up of university professors, backed the executive, although it must have known that its vote was out of order.
The Council, to its credit, refused to be intimidated. One-fifth of Council members were elected by the Convocation of alumni and the donors and they run the risk of being thrown out at the next election if they appear weak on maintaining Afrikaans on the campus. In recent times some illustrious public figures have suffered painful defeats in Convocation elections.
In the Council meeting the threat of the executive being repudiated hung in the air but in the end sanity prevailed. It decided not to censure the Executive and to revert to the 50-50 policy for Afrikaans and English.