The University of the Free State (UFS) has appointed a Cape Town-based leadership agency to help with its residence integration policy.
Acting UFS rector Teuns Verschoor said on Friday that the iGubu Leadership Agency would help management understand and identify the current obstacles related to the implementation of the policy.
”They will draw up proposals to … ensure successful integration within the 21 residences on the main campus in Bloemfontein.”
The agency was appointed after a screening and interviewing process conducted by the university’s management.
A recommendation on the successful candidate was subsequently made to the council and iGubu was informed of its appointment this past week, said Verschoor.
CEO of iGubu Rudi Buys said agency had been involved in other successful projects in the development and management of student leadership, such as at the universities of Stellenbosch and Cape Town.
He said the main focus of their project would be investigating the trust between various parties and establishing healthy relationships between students.
The agency would also help develop student leaders’ skills and hold conversations about values and meaningful change in residences and the student community.
”In the first phase of the project we will be conducting research and talking to students and other role players regarding ways of building unity on campus,” said Buys.
The iGubu contract was signed for two years and the agency must regularly report to the UFS council via management on its progress.
Meanwhile, residents of the Reitz men’s hostel at the UFS have until June 30 to vacate the premises, the institution said on Friday.
Spokesperson Lacea Loader said management decided on May 26 to close the residence at the end the first semester and open an Institute of Diversity in its place.
”Although the residence will therefore close on June 20 2008, the university has given residents the opportunity to evacuate the residence up until 30 June 2008.”
Loader said the university council, at it quarterly meeting on Friday, took note of management’s decision to close the residence.
”The council requested management to see to it that all reasonable steps were taken to minimise the inconvenience of the current Reitz residents who were affected by the closure.”
Loader said the council’s request included alternative accommodation and help with academic work.
The university found itself at the centre of a racial storm in February this year after a video, made by former Reitz residents, sparked a national and international outcry.
The video featured black university employees on their knees eating food that had apparently been urinated into by a white student.
The video was a recording of a mock initiation of five black staff members into hostel activities. In it students referred openly to the university’s integration policy for campus residences announced in 2007 and implemented this year. — Sapa