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18 September 2018 Photo Charl Devenish
Students urged to help combat crime
What to do in case of an attack? The UFS taekwondo team taught students a trick or two.
Speaking at the official opening of Safety Week, newly elected Student Representative Council (SRC) president of the Bloemfontein Campus called for students to come to the party in the fight against crime. “We encourage students to participate because it cannot just be the SRC, university management, and the police. Students need to join the Community Police Forum because these platforms are there for us to engage in. You must not die in silence, if there is a problem, raise it,” said Sonwabile Dwaba.

The University of the Free State’s (UFS) Protection Services in collaboration with the university’s BSafe campaign hosted the Safety Week from 3-6 September 2018 on the Bloemfontein and South campuses with the objective of keeping students and staff members informed on the measures in place, addressing pressing safety-related concerns, brainstorm ideas on how to beef up security, and distributing safety souvenirs.

Collaborative efforts encouraged

Brigadier Maehlo Lento, reporting on behalf of the South African Police Service (SAPS) Provincial Commissioner, said: “Robbery incidents have subsided but we still need to make sure that we continue and collaborate with students and all other roleplayers to make sure that we sustain the safety.”

The collective participation sentiment was also reflected by Prof Prakash Naidoo, Vice-Rector: Operations. “We are hoping through our annual Safety Week to reiterate our commitment to the safety of students, as well as bringing all roleplayers together to reflect on areas of cooperation and collaboration in an effort to improve the safety of student.”

Not just physical safety

Issues of mental health were discussed by the Next Chapter student organisation, while Embrace a Sister student organisation spoke about femicide and the safety of women. The scourge of gender-based violence formed the focal point of the Gender and Sexual Equity office’s address. In addition the Student Counselling and Development division offered invaluable advice on where those who exhibit symptoms of depression can seek help.

Other stakeholders who contributed to the success of this year’s Safety Week were the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality, Department of Police, Roads and Transport, as well as Sector 3 Community Police Forum. 

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News Archive

UFS acquires Willem Boshoff’s digital archive
2016-07-22

“I do not want to be the only person or artist that is part of this archive, but I want it to expand and involve others too.”

These were the words of Prof Willem Boshoff, the renowned artist and, Associate Professor in the Department of Fine Arts, during the presentation of the Willem Boshoff Archive to the University of the Free State (UFS) Johannes Stegmann Art Gallery during the Vrystaat Arts Festival.

The digital archive may be consulted at the Department of Art History and Image Studies. Large parts of it will also be available on the UFS website at http://scholar.ufs.ac.za.

Conversations surrounding the digital archive

In a discussion led by Dr Francis Halsall from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, Ireland, the discussion led to the discovery of various themes, including The idea of research, education and dialogue, doing or making, the organisation of knowledge, language and translation, word and figures or people, and the enthusiastic amateur.

Artwork attracts international attention

Alongside Prof Boshoff and Dr Halsall, many other participants who have been inspired by the artist’s work sat in on the discussion about the archive.

They included Ivan Vladislavic, author of Willem Boshoff (2004), Dr Katja Gentric, whose doctoral dissertation at the University of Bourgogne (2013) is on Boshoff’s work, and Helene Smuts, arts education writer and publisher. Josef van Wyk, a Master’s student working on Prof Boshoff’s archive, and Prof Johann Rossouw, Associate Professor of the Department of Philosophy also formed part of the discussion.

Vladislavic mentioned that Prof Boshoff’s work opens up a different form of conceptualisation. “When I first encountered Willem’s work, I was excited by it from an art historic perspective,” he said.

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