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30 October 2019 | Story Ruan Bruwer | Photo Sonia Small
Springboks
Prof Francis Petersen, UFS Rector and Vice-Chancellor, paid a special visit to the Springboks in 2018 before they faced England in Bloemfontein. From the left are Jacques Nienaber (Springbok assistant coach), Oupa Mohoje (Springbok), Prof Petersen, Rassie Erasmus (Springbok head coach), and Swys de Bruin (Springbok consultant coach at the time). De Bruin, Erasmus, Nienaber, and Mohoje are all Kovsie alumni.

Like the rest of the country, we are behind our Springboks all the way. This is what Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Free State (UFS), told alumnus Rassie Erasmus in a letter this week.

Prof Petersen wrote the letter to Erasmus, the head coach of the Springboks, to wish him everything of the best in the team’s preparation and for the game on Saturday (2 November 2019) at which they face England in the Rugby World Cup final in Japan.

"On behalf of the staff and students of the University of the Free State, I would like to wish you and the Springbok team all the best with your preparations this week and for the final. I know that Saturday’s match will be played with vigour and determination,” Prof Petersen wrote.

Prof Petersen said the UFS community was extremely proud of the Springboks’ achievements during the 2019 Rugby World Cup – especially with Erasmus at the helm of the team. The Boks defeated Japan in the quarter-final and Wales in the semi-final to reach their first final since 2007.

“As a former Shimla player and Kovsie Alumnus of the Year 1998, we are truly proud of what you have achieved during your career in South African rugby, and especially during the World Cup tournament. We are also proud of our other alumni – Jacques Nienaber as defence coach, and referee Jaco Peyper.”

Peyper refereed one of the quarter-finals and will be an assistant referee in the bronze medal play-off between New Zealand and Wales on 1 November 2019.

Under Erasmus the Springboks won the Rugby Championship this year, the first time since 2010. Erasmus and Nienaber have a long relationship. They met in the army in 1991. Later Nienaber served as physiotherapist with the Shimlas and Erasmus captained the team. They worked together at the Cheetahs, Cats, Stormers, Munster and now the Springboks.

News Archive

Deborah Meier on Education and Social Justice
2012-06-18

 

With Deborah Meier is, from the left: Brian Naidoo, Senior Lecturer: Department of English; and Rèné Eloff, Research Assistant at the International Institute for Studies in Race, Reconciliation and Social Justice.
Photo: Johan Roux
18 June 2012

Celebrated author and educator, Deborah Meier, recently visited the university. Meier, ranked among the most acclaimed leaders of the school reform movement in the United States, spoke about democracy and education at a Critical Conversation hosted by the International Institute for Studies in Race, Reconciliation and Social Justice.

Speaking from her experience of the United States education system, Meier said that she had always been primarily concerned by the fact that schools were not engaging children in discussions about important and difficult topics such as democracy, race and class. As far as democracy was concerned, Meier pointed out that most schools viewed the occasional voting exercise as a lesson in democracy. However, as far as she was concerned, voting was the least important aspect of democracy. She admitted that democracy was almost impossible define, but in her view engaging with this difficulty was, in itself, an important democratic act – an act which could and should find its rightful place in the classroom.

Meier pointed out that children were effectively “incarcerated” for the six hours they spent at school every day. She expressed her grave concern about the fact that this time was not used to nurture and develop the considerable energy and creativity that young children had. Meier envisioned a school that could rise up to this challenge. At one point she mused, “Did I miss something? Did we invent some other institution that was taking on this responsibility?”

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