UCT’s Max Price: “Rhodes Must Fall. Out of His Dust, May UCT Rise.”

In a statement late tonight University of Cape Town (UCT) Vice–Chancellor Dr Max Price offers insight into what has been going on on the UCT campus and claims that tonight’s decision to remove the statue of Cecil John Rhodes from campus is a turning point for transformation.

Here is the full statement by Dr Max Price on UCT Council’s decision to remove the Rhodes Statue:

“UCT is an old institution that has seen much change over the years. Sometimes it’s been at the forefront of that change; at other times it’s resisted it with all its might. Twenty–one years into our country’s democracy, 186 years from our founding, we’re again at another turning point.

“Today is one month to the day since students started publicly protesting the statue of Cecil John Rhodes on campus – and the words ‘poo protest’ hit the headlines.

“Some might look at the events that followed and think it’s been a time of crisis at UCT.

“I can tell you it looks very different from where I’ve stood this last month – a position that has sometimes felt like the eye of the storm. What might look to you like chaos and confusion has the makings of something much more profound and transformative.

“What I’ve seen is a student body that is incredibly committed to changing not just this university, but the very structures of our society that keeps inequality entrenched. Who aren’t content with ready–made answers, and so head out in search of better questions.

“I’ve seen staff actively engaging in and with the public, wrestling with what this current moment in history means for us, and how we might best respond for a better future.

“I’ve seen venues packed with people who care about this campus community, and want only what is the best for it – even if they disagree at times on what that looks like, or how to get there.

“I’ve seen staff and students coming together around incredibly trying circumstances and seeking – sometimes late into the night – for a shared solution.

“It’s the most active, engaged and passionate university community I’ve seen in some time.

“This is what a university is and should be about: we argue, we fight – and yet it is a fight without violence. We have deeply uncomfortable conversations. We talk, we listen. Through debate and being exposed to a diversity of thought, we refine our opinions. We retain the right to change our minds. We acknowledge that our understanding is incomplete, the decisions we make are imperfect. That, alongside the belief that there is a better way, is what keeps us moving forward. It’s a place and a process of constant transformation, where we interrogate the way things have been done, and search hard for better solutions.

“What I believe I’ve witnessed in the last month is the makings of the UCT we can be, we have yet to be, a UCT we are already becoming. A place in which we all feel like we are heard, we are valued, we belong.

“The focus of a university is on the future rather than the past. We invent new technologies, new science. We advance the frontiers of knowledge. We educate – and are educated by – the next generation. The same might be said of the transformation project. It is absolutely and critically informed by the past, but its focus is on shaping the future – a future that is made by the sum of our actions every day.

“This is an incredibly important moment in UCT’s history – and not for the reasons you might think. Today marks the day that UCT decided that the statue of Cecil John Rhodes should come down. He will fall from the podium from which he’s surveyed this campus, this city and the continent for many decades.

“But it must be remembered not for his falling, but for what rose in his place. The campus community we’ve all longed and hoped for, the UCT we’re already in the process of becoming.

“Rhodes must fall. Out of his dust, may UCT rise.”

Source: UCT.ac.za