The major problem at Rhodes University is not ‘unruly’ students, but the old boys’ club that runs the place, argues lecturer Colm Allan
Unruly students have provided a convenient scapegoat at our crisis-ridden universities.
But the focus should shift to the slow pace of transformation at these institutions. The source of the crisis lies in the unaccountable and undemocratic governance of these institutions.
Rhodes University is a case in point.
The insular and conservative views of the Rhodes council were forged during the era of high apartheid and have not changed since. The acrimonious shambles to which the vice-chancellor selection process was reduced illustrates the incompatibility of their “old boys” network style of management with the demands of transparency and accountability in the “new” South
The blatant and bungled efforts of council to manipulate the composition of the selection committee by packing it with “good old boys” were directly responsible for the process being disbanded. Council’s actions called the good name of the university into disrepute and cost us the best potential leaders we were likely to attract.
At a crucial juncture in the history of education within this country, Rhodes is without effective
The failure to speedily resolve the present crisis of leadership holds serious long-term consequences for institutions like Rhodes. The Minister of Education has already warned that “in future the funding of universities will be directed towards influencing the direction of their work and to redressing sectoral and institutional inequalities.”
The Rhodes council’s flouting of calls for democratisation betray their inability to comprehend the implications of the university’s dependence on a state subsidy — for up to 70 percent of its annual
Instead of making a commitment to the reconstruction and development of education so as to secure this subsidy, the Rhodes administration is preparing for the alternative of punitive retribution. In an ill-judged effort to pre-empt financial cuts, Rhodes management has embarked on a rationalisation programme which will cut the university’s staff by up to 10 percent across the board, and by as much as 16 percent in the arts
Effectively, this means that Rhodes University is in the process of cutting its capacity to provide education at a time when a lack of access to education is the country’s most pressing problem.
The inept reading of the present political climate by the Rhodes Council will only serve to realise their worst fears. Their disastrous leadership is set to procure the university’s financial ruin.
This same lack of leadership and corporate vision that has thrown Rhodes into a crisis can be held responsible for a good deal of the turmoil within other tertiary institutions. Instead of scapegoating students, national politicians should be working to facilitate an inclusive and wide-ranging debate around the pace and direction of change within these institutions.
Only by speeding up the pace of transformation will we be able to start addressing the causes of the present crisis as opposed to decrying its symptoms.
Colm Allan is a lecturer in sociology at Rhodes, and convenor on governance and accountability within the Forum for the Democratic Transformation of Rhodes