UCT reaffirms commitment to completing academic year
Midday update: six people arrested
3 October 2016
The University of Cape Town is committed to going forward with classes this week. There are many good reasons for doing so — beginning with the tens of thousands of UCT students who need to complete this academic year in order for their education and their resulting careers to go forward.
UCT has demonstrated, over a series of engagements with protesters over the weekend, that we are willing to accommodate their demands. We moved our position on their demands to a point where we were willing to even suspend the university’s disciplinary outcomes so that classes could open peacefully. We agreed to external mediators and commissioners for an Institutional Reconciliation and Transformation Commission. We prepared a draft resolution to this effect.
Unfortunately, the students rejected this resolution. They appear to be trying to push UCT into a potential indefinite shutdown. The consequences of not completing the 2016 academic year, as outlined in a campus letter by Vice-Chancellor Dr Max Price, remain urgent:
- It is not necessary to disrupt classes in order for UCT to engage on the issues raised by protesters. In fact, our best chance of succeeding and implementing changes is to do so with UCT in operation. The shutdown harms everyone. It will rob everyone of the opportunity to learn from this experience and to change in ways that make us better people, a stronger institution and an improved society.
- The greatest impact of a longer shutdown will be felt by our poorest and most vulnerable staff and students. Students are the worst and very directly affected as they may not be able to complete this academic year and will have to extend their time of study with multiple financial and other consequences. Many, particularly the vulnerable, may simply fall out of the system.
- The hundreds of health science graduates who are scheduled to enter the South African health system in January will be unable to do so, which will put an already compromised health system at further risk. In the final analysis, the consequences of a longer-term shutdown are real and drastic.
- We will lose the confidence of educational partners, donors and funders, and potential employers of graduates.
- The financial implications may mean a forced reduction in staff and a collapse of UCT’s contribution to financial aid.
- The collapse of the semester study abroad programmes may become a reality and our ability to attract international scholars and research partners will be diminished.
- Our capacity to do impactful research that benefits communities directly and our ability to continue critical services in communities (some of which involve life-saving interventions) will be lost.
- We face the potential loss of our international accreditations, which will have direct consequences for the value of our degrees.
- If the higher education sector does not return to teaching, learning and research, the consequences for the future of our country will be even worse. We stand to lose a generation of students, much as we lost countless students to the protests of 1976.
As Dr Price has said: “All of us should be standing up for the protection of our teaching, learning and research environment; the right to learn; the right to complete the academic year, while ensuring fundamental change to our institution and our society.”
Please scroll down for today’s midday announcement:
Midday update: six people arrested
Released: 12:40, 3 October 2016
3 October 2016
3 October 2016
Dear students and colleagues
This communication serves to inform you of the latest developments in relation to the situation in the national higher education sector and the protests on UCT campus.
Nationally, President Zuma addressed a Multi-Stakeholder Forum on the Crisis in Universities in Kempton Park.
Read President Zuma’s address...
At UCT, classes resumed this morning and operations are continuing. There have been groups of protesters moving around campus, protesting and disrupting lectures. Both the north and south entrances to upper campus remain closed. Earlier this morning, a group of protesters moved along Main Road to the medical school. From there the protesters moved to upper campus. The protesters are currently on upper campus and some lectures have been disrupted. The Jammie Shuttle service is not operating. The libraries remain closed.
For the most part, the protesters have behaved in a manner that adheres to the UCT code of conduct, but a number of disruptions, especially of lectures, have been reported in the PD Hahn, Menzies and New Engineering buildings. Six people were arrested for disrupting a lecture in the PD Hahn building on the northwest side of campus. The six were warned that their actions were unlawful and that they should leave the premises. They refused and were arrested. They were taken to a police station and charges are being laid. If they are found to be UCT students, disciplinary action, including possible suspension, will follow.
The UCT executive are attempting to manage the situation with a joint operations team including Campus Protection Services (CPS) and the South African Police Service (SAPS). Our intention is to use security as a last resort in all cases. In view of the national context, operational heads of CPS and SAPS are jointly managing the security operations on campus. This means that police will be present and visible around campus.
The Vice-Chancellor appeals to all UCT staff and students to continue operations as best they can and to avoid situations of conflict. Staff and students are further urged to allow the visible security personnel to undertake their work.
Sincerely,
Gerda Kruger
Executive Director: Communication and Marketing Department
Issued by UCT, 3 October 2016
