Colour bar at UCT is out of the question, says vice-chancellor

A "colour bar" for University of Cape Town lecturers is out of the question, the vice-chancellor has told critics of proposals to decolonise the curriculum.

"It would as a start be unconstitutional," Mamokgethi Phakeng said in response to activist group Progress SA, which is leading opposition to the university’s curriculum change framework.

"Rather than seeking to introduce a colour bar, this [curriculum review] process lifts the bar on UCT’s ability to engage in challenging and unconventional discussions with an aim of bolstering the academic standing of our institution."

Phakeng was responding to an open letter about the framework’s supposed shortcomings, signed by dozens of academics, students and alumni.

It asked her to clarify the purpose of the framework and state "whether management intends to propose the document to senate to be adopted as university policy".

It also requested an affirmation of UCT’s commitment to academic and intellectual freedom "rather than as a space where management can impose a narrow ideological framework upon students and staff".

And it called for an assurance that UCT will not introduce "a colour bar for lecturing in any discipline or at any level".

In her response, Phakeng welcomed all comments on the curriculum change framework, which was released in June 2018 by her predecessor, Max Price.

The teaching and learning committee would integrate the comments into a curricular review that would be tabled in the university senate in the second semester.

Price established a curriculum change working group in 2016, in the aftermath of #FeesMustFall — what Phakeng described as "significant and increasing pressure arguing that certain lives and parts of our history are neither recognised nor valued in our curriculum".

She added: "The working group was intentionally led by black academics and staff as representivity mattered in the particular context and discussion, but it was not a blacks-only forum.

"The document the working group produced is a departure point for further interrogation, critique and redesign by the broader academic structure. This is now under way."

Addressing Progress SA’s criticisms, Phakeng said: "UCT cannot prescribe a standard framework for all to follow, nor can a colour bar for teaching be introduced or enforced.

"The very act of interrogating a curriculum via a process of transparent discussions ... will ensure our common commitment to open debate and academic freedom.

"Curriculum change or review is a creative, inclusive process of shaping a more inclusive, more representative future. It is, in consequence, a profound act of transformation."

An accompanying statement from UCT said any decisions reached about a curriculum review would be enriched by the expression of opposing and diverse opinions, which was characteristic of a university.

• Phakeng spent Saturday morning hiking up Table Mountain with Bantu Hikers, a non-profit organisation which introduces people to hiking while providing a platform for professionals to network and mentor matric and university students.