Rhodes students draw up petition on exams for January

 

Yesterday the institution had given students up to today to decide as to when they want to write this year’s final exams. In an email sent to all students the university said: “Students will be asked to make a choice by 16:00 tomorrow whether they want to write their exams now in November or January”.

 

The petition by the RU Fees Must Fall movement says the trauma of the violence experienced in the past two weeks does not make the university a conducive learning area. “The brutal and pervasive police action meted out to students has destroyed the university as a place of learning. Furthermore, the new exam arrangements set by the institution leaves students without a viable option, either write exams now on an occupied, unsafe, and traumatic campus, or write them later without the option of supplementary exams.“

Williams said the poll which closes at 4pm today was unfair as there are some students who were arrested yesterday and are still in jail. “Those students who were arrested will only appear tomorrow (Friday) today meaning that they cannot exercise that choice because the deadline they were given is 4pm today. They are in custody and no one seems to care about their future and wellbeing.”

The petition is accessible on: Rhodes University is not a conducive learning environment!

The students arrested on Tuesday will only appear after 2pm when court resumes. It’s quiet at the university for now but staff have been told to go home.

 

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