A campaign by Stellenbosch University students to get English introduced as the primary language of teaching, communication and administration has attracted widespread support but some say it is a "slap in the face for indigenous languages". Last week 226 academics, other employees and the Students' Representative Council endorsed the proposal by the rector's management team that English become the lingua franca of the university.But the head of the National Professional Teachers' Organisation, Basil Manuel, said: "It is a strange decision, seeing that Stellenbosch University is in a province that is overwhelmingly Afrikaans and the language has already evolved to be a full science language. This decision does not gel with the noise made about the importance of [mother tongue instruction] in our primary schools."This means that those schools in which Afrikaans is taught will now also have to change to English."Prominent Afrikaans activist Marietha Channel, who is a former board member of the Klein Karoo Nationale Kunstefees, said: "English is the most dominant relic of colonialism. I cannot understand why anyone would want this. This is setting us back 100 years."Advocate for a separatist Afrikaaner state Dan Roodt said: "No one should be forced to study in English, the violent tongue of Rhodes, Milner and Kitchener that has always held itself aloof from South Africa."Open Stellenbosch presented an alternative language policy to the rector's management team this week.Open Stellenbosch demands, among other things, that the primary medium of instruction be English and that teaching support be provided in other official languages.Its proposals are likely to be discussed when the university council meets on November30. Some council members have said they will not support the proposal that English be the main language of instruction.Additional reporting @BDlive..