Black academics at UCT cry racism

University of Cape Town vice-chancellor Max Price has unleashed the wrath of black academics at the university.

Price had made public his stance on employment equity, an opinion the angry academics said promotes the "notion that white scholarship and white scholars are superior".

In a letter, Price said the shortage of black academics at the university could be ascribed to a shortage of candidates.

"Few in that small pool choose academic careers over offers from the new government, civil service and corporates, all desperate to recruit highly skilled black professionals," Price wrote.

This week, 19 academics responded to the letter published on UCT's website in July.

They took issue with Price's comparison of UCT to other South African universities that employ higher numbers of black academics.

"The article suggests that 'quality' is compromised at other universities that have more black professors, because at UCT 'we are not lowering the standard for appointment or promotion as professor for people of colour'," the academics wrote.

"Furthermore, raising the issue of standards when referring to black academics is a discourse that serves to undermine the competencies of black scholars and one that works to maintain the false notion that white scholarship and white scholars are superior.

"In many ways, such constructions ... are part of a broader discourse of white superiority - a historical legacy we all share and have a responsibility to confront."

A senior UCT academic said yesterday that discrimination against black academics was rife at the university.

"We have had colleagues who have not been promoted even though they meet all the requirements for promotion," said the academic.

UCT spokesman Patricia Lucas said the institution encouraged debate on the subject of transformation.