Students' call must not be disparaged

RHODES University's former vice-chancellor Dr Saleem Badat yesterday criticised the disparaging responses to students' urgent calls for transformation in universities, which have been characterised by the sudden aversion to Cecil John Rhodes and his colonial legacy.

Receiving his honorary law degree from the Grahamstown university he led for eight years yesterday (10 April 2015), Badat said the students' protests to have all Rhodes' colonial remnants removed from their institutions should not be vilified.

He said students should instead be commended for "bringing sharply into focus the pursuit of social justice in our universities".

 "Pretending that there are no major problems with the historically white universities, including Rhodes, won't make it go away. Not addressing the problems simply means that they will fester and they will undoubtedly explode in future," he said.

"[This] is an important, but perhaps awkward and even uncomfortable topic for some."

Badat's speech comes as weeks of student protests at the University of Cape Town this week culminated in a victory as the contentious Rhodes statue fell.

Rhodes University students have also been calling for a change to the university's name.

Badat said black people and other marginalised groups were expected to gel into the still untransformed higher education sector, with the recent calls to decolonise universities a necessary and long overdue exercise that had to be embraced.

"The consistent, comprehensive and sustained efforts to change what exists to form new inclusive cultures to build universities that are genuinely homes for all — which has been my slogan since 2006— have been lacking for one or other reason," he said.

 "Some social groups and individuals have been content with the existing institutional culture, unwilling or slow to appreciate how what they are comfortable with and what they consider to be natural could be discomforting and alienating for others.

"The responses to the movements at UCT and Rhodes are all too familiar and no less disturbing — the spewing of racist invective, patronising efforts to teach black people about the benefits of colonialism and general avoidance of [such] issues.

"The 'Rhodes Must Fall' and the demand for changing the name of Rhodes University are metaphors of much larger and deeper issues.

"They are a reminder that there is unfinished business, that there can be no reconciliation or peace without social justice in our universities and in our society."

Badat's speech came just a day after veteran trumpeter and fellow honorary doctorate recipient Hugh Masekela criticised the campaign to have all colonial remnants removed from universities and society in general.

He said if people were so eager to decolonise South Africa, they should give up their largely colonial lifestyles.

Badat suggested that the students' actions were not a mere selfish act, but one that would see future generations enjoy a richer and fuller university experience.

By Zandile Mbabela

Source: Weekend Post

Full speech: 2015 Dr Saleem Badat's graduation address