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S.African rector gives lessons in reconciliation after racist scandal
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S.African rector gives lessons in reconciliation after racist scandal
AFP - Thursday, February 25
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The rector of the University of Free State, Jonathan Jansen, is interviewed in his office in Bloemfontein on February 15. Outrage over a video by four white South African university students mocking racial integration helped drive change on campus, says the rector who chose to pardon the offenders.
BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa (AFP) - – Outrage over a video by four white South African university students mocking racial integration helped drive change on campus, says the rector who chose to pardon the offenders.
"One of my roles is to constantly push and push for more change," Jonathan Jansen said from his office at the University of Free State.
"The Reitz incident, terrible as it was, it allowed us to introduce change and move forward," he told AFP.
Jansen was named the school's first black rector one year after the video scandal broke in February 2008.
Four white students at Reitz dormitory made the video to mock integration in student housing, but when it landed on the Internet it sparked an international scandal.
One clip showed a young man apparently urinating into a bowl of stew and then serving it to five black housekeepers who unwittingly eat it.
But last October Jansen decided to drop disciplinary charges against the four, provoking widespread criticism from trade unions and the ruling African National Congress.
But a civil proceeding is due to get start on Wednesday in the central city of Bloemfontein.
Jansen's decision, which he said was a gesture of reconciliation, ignited a new debate about the limits of forgiveness in a country that has already forgiven so much of its racist history.
"By offering reconciliation, I wanted us to move on together and not be judged by our racist past," Jansen said.
"That is why this university is quiet today: we took a decision to address the matter and prevent it from happening again," Jansen said.
"Universities are a reflection of our society and our divided past. That is why traces of racism always creep up," he said.
The outrage generated by the scandal allowed him to accelerate the process of integration that was slowly getting underway when the video was made, he said.
Jansen introduced a policy that required each student hostel to be split 50-50 with black and white residents, on a campus that had been racially exclusive for most of the university's 100-year history.
So far 18 out of 23 hostels were now fully integrated, he said.
Most black students had no qualms about sharing accommodation with whites, but the whites, who form 35 percent of the student body, resisted change.
Most of the white students are Afrikaners, in a province that was once an independent Afrikaner republic, and they have a fear of losing their identity as South Africa evolves, he said.
"Black students have no problem. White students have a huge problem -- huge, because they are scared of being dominated. So when I pushed the 50-50 ratio they wouldn't even accept that," he said.
"My role here as an educational leader is to say you've got to learn how to live and learn together, that is fundamental," he added.
But his approach generated hostility from some sections of the the public and from politicians.
"When I pushed the integration, I received a lot of hammering from white people, especially Afrikaners asking why I was bending over to blacks. And when I called back the white students, I was criticised by blacks," he said.
His decision to open the door for the white students at the centre of the race row to return to school proved in some ways to be symbolic.
Two of the students had already graduated before the video emerged on the Internet, and the other two have given no indication that they plan to return.
Jansen said he hoped the boys would show the same spirit of reconciliation, and seek forgiveness from the cleaners they humiliated.
"They should show contrition and apologise to our staff," he said.
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