Archive: 2010
Dr Max Price (article) | Prof Neville Alexander (response) | Prof Neville Alexander (interview) | Dr Max Price (response) | Televised debate | Prega Govender (article) | Live debate on campus | Prega Govender (on live debate) | Prof Jonathan Jansen (article) | Jos Horwitz (letter) | Dr Max Price (response to Prof Jansen) | Monday Paper (13 September) | The New York Times | Talk Radio 702 | Monday Paper (11 October) | Finweek (from October 2010)
| View or listen to the 2 Sept 2010 UCT Admissions Policy debate |
Independent news
On 19 April 2010, the following article by UCT Vice- Chancellor Dr Max Price was published in the Pretoria News and The Star. It was published in the Cape Times on 21 April:
Article
Cape Times headline: Is there a place for "race" in a university selection policy?
This Thursday and Friday, Dr Blade Nzimande, the Minister of Higher Education and Training, is calling key stakeholders together in Cape Town for a summit on higher education. One of the major topics of discussion will be the goal of increasing access to higher education through universities' admissions policies. A key question will be whether race can be used as a criterion in admissions policy. (Read the full article.)
Cape Times
On 15 June, UCT Professor Neville Alexander, director of PRAESA, wrote an article in response.
Article
Cape Times headline: We'll pay the price for race cowardice
I should like to return to the to the article (April 21) by Professor Max Price, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town, in which he argues that, albeit temporarily, "race" is an acceptable criterion of university admission in post-apartheid South Africa. (Read the full article.)
Professor Alexander's article generated the following responses from Cape Times readers. Some excerpts are listed below - download all the letters here.
Letters
Headline: Race no criterion
Neville Alexander ("We'll pay the price for race cowardice", Cape Times, June 15) bravely ventures where his politically correct academic colleagues fear to tread when he challenges the notion that race is temporarily an acceptable criterion for university admission in post-apartheid SA.
Headline: Humanity bind us
I wish to commend Neville Alexander on his brave and principled article published on the OpEd page on Tuesday. I am particularly thankful that he pointed out the myth of "race", stressing that it is a construct created by people who wish to divide and dominate others, without any thought of the consequences.
Headline: Race game is easier to play, but it is far more dangerous
What a refreshing, invigorating article from Dr Alexander. Just when one thought no-one in SA was capable of thinking out of the box, along comes Dr Alexander and reminds us of the stultifying straightjacket that the race issue has always been and lamentably continues to be in this country.
Headline: A valid yardstick
Logic therefore dictates that race is the appropriate criterion for fixing the situation. The time for discarding race-based Affirmative Action has not yet arrived as, even now, privilege is still racially delineated. The wealth and economic and academic power is still overwhelmingly in white hands.
Headline: Wrong targets
Alexander and Hoffman are hitting at the wrong target in UCT's Vice- Chancellor. By all accounts Dr Max Price is no defender of racism. He is actually attempting to do something to right the wrongs of apartheid practice and mindsets.
Sunday Times
Sunday Times columnist Chris Barron entered the debate by interviewing Professor Alexander in a column that was published on 20 June:
Article
Headline: So many questions
Former antiapartheid activist Neville Alexander has slammed the University of Cape Town, where he is a member of staff, for its use of race as a criterion for admission. Chris Barron asked him ... (Read the full article.)
Sunday Times
On 4 July 2010 the Sunday Times published the following article by Dr Price in answer to Professor Alexander's arguments:
Article
Headline: Real role of "race" in hobbling students is recognised
I welcome University of Cape Town professor Neville Alexander's comments in response to my public stand defending the use of "race" in universities' admissions policies.
He argues, firstly, that "race" has no relevance, on the grounds that "the terribly simple fact is that 'race' is not real": "It's not the colour of people's skin or the texture of their hair that determines whether or not they are capable of being at university," he told the Sunday Times.
I agree that race does not exist as a biological phenomenon in humans. This is why I always put "race" in quotes. (Read the full article.)
Televised debate
On 18 July a debate between Dr Max Price and Prof Neville Alexander was televised on e.tv. Video courtesy of e.tv (25:37 min).
Sunday Times
The Sunday Times of 15 August published the following article by Prega Govender.
Article
Headline: UCT urged to scrap race criteria
Dr Neville Alexander, a director of a research unit at the university, says vice-chancellor Dr Max Price's race-based admissions policy is "silly" and "quite ridiculous". Deans of medical faculties at other universities said this week the policy was discriminatory ... (Read the full article.) (The Sunday Times article of 15 August was also run in the University World News - African Edition.)
On 2 September 2010 a live debate on the University of Cape Town’s admissions policy was conducted at UCT with Prof Neville Alexander (Director, Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa - PRAESA), Prof David Benatar (Dept of Philosophy), Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane (UCT Chair of Council), Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh (Student Representative Council president), and vice-chancellor Dr Max Price. The moderator was the Judge Dennis Davis. Read the Daily News article (3 September), or view or listen to the debate below. You can also read the transcript.
View the debate.
Listen to the debate.
Sunday Times
On 4 September, the Sunday Times published this article by Prega Govender in which he reported on the admissions policy debate that took place at UCT on 2 September.
Article
Headline: Counting the colours
New students are still required, when applying for admission, to classify themselves according to race. Although the students' representative council has endorsed this policy until a "suitable alternative" is found, for many, including academics who are split down the middle, it's a bitter pill to swallow. (Read the full article.)
The Times
On 9 September, The Times published this article by Professor Jonathan Jansen in response to the admissions policy debate that took place at UCT on 2 September.
Article
Headline: Race holds us back after class
A firestorm has broken out at the University of Cape Town over the question as to whether race should be used to determine admission to university studies. (Read the full article.)
Sunday Times
Article
On 12 September, the Sunday Times published an article by Stephanie Kemp in response to the admissions policy debate that took place at UCT on 2 September.
Headline: It is still right to correct past wrongs
Affirmative action is not an easy matter - as is clear from "Counting the colours". I was in the UCT physiotherapy class of 1960 and we boasted the first physiotherapy student who was not classified white. (Read the full article.)
Monday Paper
Article
UCT's Monday Paper (13 - 26 September) published an article reporting on the admissions policy debate that took place at UCT on 2 September.
Headline: Lively debate on admissions policy
Opinions and loyalties were divided as panellists and audience members expressed their views on UCT's admission policy at a debate hosted at the Centre for African Studies on 2 September. (Read the full article.)
Cape Argus
On 14 September, the Cape Argus published a letter written by Jos Horwitz in response to Jonathan Jansen's article in The Times of 9 September about the admissions policy debate that took place at UCT on 2 September.
Article
Headline: UCT's admissions policy keeps us tied to past
Jonathan Jansen in The Times of September 9 raises the issue of whether race should be a factor in gaining access to education. Surely such pivotal decisions that affect transformation need examining through debate that leads to developing principles that reflect the values we need to instill in our nation? (Read the full article.)
The Times
On 15 September, The Times published an article by Dr Max Price in response to an article that was written by Professor Jonathan Jansen on the admissions policy debate that took place at UCT on 2 September.
Article
Headline: Learning to change
He is correct in saying that we must try to rectify the wrongs of the past that have led to inequalities and unfairness, and that universities have an obligation to do this. I agree that the use of race labels is undesirable. I have long argued that biological race does not exist but that racism is created "race" as a social construct with devastating consequences for society (Read the full article.)
Die Burger
On 17 September, Die Burger published an article by Dr Max Price in response to an article that was written by Professor Jonathan Jansen on the admissions policy debate that took place at UCT on 2 September.
Article
Headline: Só kan universiteite onregte help omkeer
In sy artikel "Rassevoorskrifte laat apartheid voortleef" (Die Burger, 07.09) het prof. Jonathan Jansen, rektor van die Universiteit van die Vrystaat, verlede week 'n paar goeie punte gestel. Hy het dit reg dat ons almal - veral universiteite - 'n verantwoordelikheid het om die onregte van die verlede wat tot sulke dramatiese ongelykhede gelei het, te probeer omkeer. (Read the full article.)
Cape Times
On 29 September, the Cape Times published a student's response to a letter regarding the admissions policy debate.
Article
Headline: Academic Colours
The letter, "Back to Apartheid" (September 28), refers. I am a black South African, a student at UCT and I totally disagree with the writer, Dr Kronsenberg. I went to a former Model C school in Cape Town and was the only black student there who progressed to UCT. (Read the full article.)
Monday Paper
On 11 October, the UCT Monday Paper published an article reporting on a press conference hosted at the Faculty of Health Sciences on 1 October.
Article
Monday Paper headline: Medical students speak to media on UCT admissions policy
Students spoke out to the media about UCT's controversial admissions policy at a press conference hosted at the Faculty of Health Sciences on 1 October.
Welcoming the media, faculty dean Professor Marian Jacobs acknowledged that using race as a proxy for disadvantage in their admissions process had been under the media spotlight recently. (Read the full article.)
The New York Times
On 22 November, an article by Celia Dugger was published in the New York Times.
Article
The New York Times headline: Campus That Apartheid Ruled Faces a Policy Rift
CAPE TOWN - The University of Cape Town was once a citadel of white privilege on the majestic slopes of Devil's Peak. At the height of apartheid, it admitted few black or mixed-race students, and they were barred from campus dormitories, even forbidden to attend medical school postmortems on white corpses.
South Africa's finest university is now resplendently multiracial. But it is also engaged in a searching debate about just how far affirmative action should go to heal the wounds of an oppressive history, echoing similar conflicts in the United States, where half a dozen states have banned the use of racial preferences in admissions to public universities. (Read the full article.)
On 23 November talk radio host Kieno Kammies spoke to Dr Max Price and Dr Neville Alexander who shared their different views on the show Talk @ Nine.
Talk title: Do we need race to determine admission at educational institutions?
Download the podcast.
On 21 October, an article by Stephen Mulholland was published in Finweek magazine.
Article
Finweek headline: Standard deviations: determining racialism in education a tricky subject
Stephen Mulholland writes about incidents of racism at a Gauteng high school which resulted in reports in The Star newspaper saying a 'microscope should be placed on the headmaster' for his decision not to fully condemn racist acts. Mulholland says that Dr Max Price should also be put under a microscope as it is well known that the vice-chancellor "is the implementer and stout defender of his university's blatant imposition of racist standards in the admission of students." (Read the full article.)
On 29 October, Gerda Kruger, executive director of UCT's Communication & Marketing Department, responded to Muholland's article.
Article
Finweek headline: In the fullness of time
Gerda Kruger responds to Mulholland's "standard deviations: determining racialism in education a tricky subject." Kruger says "UCT's position and intentions about the matter [admissions policy] are well recorded and the active debate on campus is also available on UCT's home page." She concludes, "any student who comes to UCT from a disadvantaged background and puts in the effort and perseverance to earn a degree on merit is far from 'mediocre.'" (Read the full article.)
On 26 November, MM Dippenaar responded to Gerda Kruger's letter about race based admissions criteria.
Article
Finweek headline: Doctor, I'm in trouble
In response to Gerda Kruger's letter about race based admissions criteria. MM Dippenaar wrote: Unfortunately, the different entrance requirements at UCT leave a bad taste- for obvious reasons." He adds; "UCT's medical faculty has always been highly regarded, unfortunately the perception has now been created that its standards are being lowered and it's being done in order to be politically correct." (Read the full article.)
On 3 December, F Coetzer responded to Gerda Kruger's letter about race-based admissions criteria.
Article
Finweek headline: Standard deviations
F Coetzer wrote: "further to the reaction by the executive director of communications at the University Of Cape Town (4 November), the issue is one of statistical science, not of racial science." (Read the full article.)