Cape Town - Stellenbosch University students marched from building to building on Friday, halting tests and threatening to shut down the university after rector and vice-chancellor Wim de Villiers failed to personally accept their memorandum.
Staff had no choice but to reschedule tests after the students got into some of the buildings.
The latest action in the #FeesMustFall campaign began after the students gathered at the Rooi Plain at the centre of the campus at noon to hand over the memorandum.
Among their demands were:
* The immediate lifting of the suspension of, and interdicts against, students,
* The clearance of all historic debt for the 2016 academic year,
* The reopening of funding applications for students from households with an income of between R122 000 and R600 000 a year, and
* A “strict and unconditional” 0 percent fee increment for students from those households.
They demanded a response to their demands by Wednesday.
De Villiers sent Dean of Students Tonia Overmeyer to accept the memorandum on his behalf, prompting students to shout: “Where is Wim de Villiers? He must not go with our money overseas.”
Overmeyer insisted she would convey their message to De Villiers, but they gave her two minutes to contact him to tell him to show up.
When her time was up, she took the microphone and announced: “I am mandated to receive and listen to your demands on behalf of the university.”
The crowd accused De Villiers of not taking them seriously. They then set off on the march through the campus.
By late afternoon, they had managed to gain entry to some academic buildings, forcing staff to reschedule tests.
De Villiers sent a message to students, staff and alumni via a video link: “Students have a right to peaceful protest, but not to occupy buildings, disrupt classes or threaten and assault others.”
He said the university shared their concern that higher education should be broadly accessible to as many people as possible. “We fully support fee-free, quality higher education for students from poor households. Ideally, this should be the case for all students, but that would require additional state subsidy. In the meantime, we are doing our utmost to support our students financially.
“No academically deserving student should be excluded due to their financial circumstances.”
But he warned that everyone needed to work together so the academic year could be concluded successfully. “If universities can”t deliver well-qualified graduates and produce new knowledge, society as a whole will be worse off.”
The university”s interim SRC expressed concern at the situation, saying the environment was not good for the academic programme. It met the rector”s management team, during which it was suggested all academic activity at the university be cancelled for a day in solidarity with the national call for increased government support for tertiary education.
Chanting and banging on test venue doors late on Friday, a protesting student said the fees issue was “a problem for all students”, and so no one should write tests “while we are out here fighting for our right to education”.
University spokesman Martin Viljoen confirmed that “some tests were rescheduled”.
Police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Andre Traut said “the protest action in Stellenbosch was being monitored and policed”.
Weekend Argus