The council of the University of the Free State (UFS) on Friday mandated management to consider the possibility of closing down the Reitz men’s residence.
Chairperson of the council Judge Faan Hancke said this included the possibility of converting the hostel into a beacon of transformation, hope and liberation.
”It is up to management to make the decision, but they must listen to all persons interested, to make representations, and then after due processes of the law they can make the necessary decision,” Hancke told journalists in Bloemfontein after the council meeting.
He said the council expressed its full confidence in the university’s management and supported the steps it had taken thus far.
The quarterly UFS council meeting was moved forward to Friday to discuss the racist video that recently surfaced at the institution.
The video, which has sparked a national outcry, features black university employees on their knees eating food that had apparently been urinated on by a white student.
It depicts a mock initiation of five black staff members into hostel activities and refers openly to the university’s integration policy for campus residences, announced in 2007.
The council in a statement also condemned the ”offensive and racist video”, which it said was an insult to women, to older persons and to poor working people who were defenceless and vulnerable.
The meeting further approved the appointment of ”change-management expertise” to help the UFS management to further accelerate the institution’s transformation and integration processes.
UFS rector Frederick Fourie said the council did not revisit the UFS-approved transformation policy of last year, which was ”very comprehensive”.
Fourie said the message he got from the council was that current events should not stop the transformation momentum and motivation.
”There is no going back or hesitance or anything, [that’s] how I as manager have read the sentiment of council,” said Fourie.
Asked why the immediate closure of Reitz was not considered, Judge Hancke said the decision the council took on the residence was the best one to take under the circumstances.
”It is difficult to say whether the department [of education] or other people would be happy with it, but we considered it very thoroughly and we thought that would be the best decision to take.”
In regard to possible further acts of intimidation on the Bloemfontein campus, Judge Hancke said the council asked management to take firm action against any staff or students who violated the law.
A management initiative to investigate the fundamental issues underlying many of the current problems at campus residences at UFS was also supported by the council.
Issues that would be looked at were residence culture, initiation, as well as ”race, racialism and racism”.
Others were alcohol and drug abuse and the role of political parties in student politics and structures. — Sapa