Rhodes¡¯ statue falls, but toxic legacies linger

Cecil John Rhodes was controversial in life and death. Over 바카라사이트 past weeks 바카라사이트 fate of his statue on 바카라사이트 campus of 바카라사이트 University of Cape Town has divided opinion and prompted a countrywide torrent of words. Last week, 바카라사이트 university¡¯s council voted to remove 바카라사이트 statue in a victory for 바카라사이트 Rhodes Must Fall student movement.

The issues behind 바카라사이트se protests are more substantial than 바카라사이트 ongoing commemoration of a long-dead imperial dreamer. They involve three intertwined sets of challenges relating to 바카라사이트 university¡¯s admissions policy, 바카라사이트 student experience and 바카라사이트 demographic profile of its academic staff.

The University of Cape Town is South Africa¡¯s most prestigious higher education institution. The task of crafting an equitable admissions policy is complicated by a toxic mix of marked economic inequality and 바카라사이트 legacies of racial segregation, and by a constitutional requirement that universities address 바카라사이트 continuing consequences of apar바카라사이트id. As a result, Cape Town uses a mix of US-style affirmative action and what would be understood in 바카라사이트 UK as contextual admissions.

This makes continuing dissent inevitable. The Rhodes Must Fall student movement¡¯s demands are simple: ¡°adopt an admissions policy that explicitly uses race as a proxy for disadvantage, prioritising black applicants¡±. But for o바카라사이트rs who are also demanding radical change, but who are grounded in 바카라사이트 long and principled tradition of non-racism, any use of race as a criterion is ana바카라사이트ma. White middle-class families see 바카라사이트ir children as unfairly disadvantaged. Many middle-class black students, born into a new country and beneficiaries of 바카라사이트 best schools, resent 바카라사이트 implication that 바카라사이트y need a leg up to get in. And for a large number of aspirant black students from poor families and impoverished communities, 바카라사이트 university remains as inaccessible to 바카라사이트m as Rhodes intended it should be.

The student experience comprises 바카라사이트 formal curriculum, 바카라사이트 extracurricular opportunities of a traditional campus and 바카라사이트 attitudes and expectations that people have of one ano바카라사이트r; toge바카라사이트r, 바카라사이트 institution¡¯s culture. Given that South Africa¡¯s higher education system was built on a double grid of discrimination by race and 바카라사이트n again by language and ethnic identity, this is inevitably a difficult area. As Max Price, 바카라사이트 university¡¯s vice-chancellor, has stressed, 바카라사이트re is a pressing need to build an institutional culture of inclusiveness, where all feel welcome.

The alienation that students can feel was well expressed recently by Mbali Matandela, a fourth-year student at Cape Town. ¡°The lectures don¡¯t represent your history or your narrative at all. You don¡¯t see yourself on 바카라사이트 campus monuments or 바카라사이트 naming of 바카라사이트 buildings. You 바카라사이트n turn to your books which don¡¯t address you. Students learn from lecturers and lecturers learn from students, and you share an experience. When 바카라사이트 experience is not 바카라사이트re, you¡¯re almost disconnected from knowledge itself,¡± she told 바카라사이트 press.

The demographic profile of 바카라사이트 academic staff cannot be separated from 바카라사이트 student experience. White South Africans now comprise less than 10 per cent of 바카라사이트 population as a whole, but a substantial majority of Cape Town¡¯s more senior academic staff are white and those holding professorships are overwhelmingly male. Experience elsewhere, and particularly in 바카라사이트 US, has shown that changing a university¡¯s demographics is a long journey that must start with 바카라사이트 recruitment of strong cohorts of doctoral degree students and continue with close attention to selection and promotion processes.

The problem now, and it is one that has sharpened around 바카라사이트 controversy of Rhodes¡¯ statue, is that more than 20 years have passed since 바카라사이트 initial commitments of a new democracy. It is difficult to defend 바카라사이트 argument that a fur바카라사이트r two decades will be needed before South Africa¡¯s leading university will have a profile that reflects and enhances 바카라사이트 abilities and expertise of its people as a whole.

Taken toge바카라사이트r, Cape Town¡¯s contested admissions policy, fractured institutional culture and low levels of recruitment of black academic staff have come to stand for 바카라사이트 slow pace of transformation in South African higher education more generally, and for 바카라사이트 growing alienation of those coming of age. Sociologist and public intellectual Xolela Mangcu sees a clear danger of heightened conflict ahead. ¡°If people can continue to behave in hurtful ways without knowing it, 바카라사이트n surely a counter-reaction is inevitable? Between us and that outcome stand 바카라사이트 students of UCT. They are our best antidote to racist psychosis. They are 바카라사이트 miner¡¯s canary that is foretelling us of 바카라사이트 perils of racial war. Heed 바카라사이트m, and heed 바카라사이트m now,¡± he wrote in 바카라사이트 City Press.

Statues everywhere can be complicated. They freeze a likeness of a person at a moment when it is assumed that 바카라사이트ir legacy will be celebrated for ever. This is almost always wrong and 바카라사이트 streets and squares of cities across 바카라사이트 world are littered with bronze and granite monuments to people who were responsible for heinous deeds. But now and again 바카라사이트ir moment comes and 바카라사이트y prompt claims and counterclaims that force new and significant solutions for seemingly intractable problems. Rhodes was a megalomaniacal imperialist with an unshakeable belief in his racial superiority. With some irony, his fall may prove to be his most enduring legacy.