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The author of 'The Fall of the University of Cape Town', Professor David Benatar, writes that the problem at the university runs much deeper than the vice-chancellor, who is at least as much a symptom of UCT's fall as its cause.
South Africa’s top university has lost almost half its senior leadership team over the past four years. The body supposed to act as watchdog for the institution, the UCT Council, is described as increasingly toxic, with accusations of racism and claims of cover-ups. Now matters look to be comin...
UCT scrambles to recover valuable material lost in library fire By Sisonke Mlamla Share Cape Town - The UCT community, including the alumni, have urged researchers around the world who have photocopies or images of documents destroyed in the Jagger Library fire to contribute those to help recover some of the lost records. Dr Maha Rafi Atal, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Copenhagen Business School in Frederiksberg, Denmark, took an initiative to establish a registry of copies of materials that researchers have among their research collections. Atal, who is collecting the information on...
Anger after UCT appoints 69yr old retired white man to head up transformation Share Cape-Town - THE appointment of a 69-year-old retired white man as the acting deputy vice-chancellor (DVC) for transformation at UCT has been labelled a slap in the face of many suitable black, femme and queer candidates who should be encouraged to take up the portfolio. Weighing in on controversy surrounding the appointment of British historical archaeologist and Emeritus Professor Martin Hall, UCT’s Student Representative Council (SRC) in a statement yesterday said they opposed the appointment even if it wa...
Backlash over appointment of white academic to head up transformation at UCT By Sisonke Mlamla Share Cape Town - The University of Cape Town's (UCT) vice-chancellor Mamokgethi Phakeng, once the darling of black academics and students, seems to have fallen out of favour with them, after the appointment of a white retired academic to replace a black female academic in charge of transformation at the university. Deputy vice-chancellor: Transformation, Professor Loretta Feris was allegedly replaced by a 72-year-old professor Martin Hall on a R2 million salary package. Hall, who served in a variet...