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25 November 2020 Photo Anja Aucamp
Prof Colin Chasi outside Centenary Complex (Anja Aucamp)
Prof Colin Chasi is the Director of the Unit for Institutional Change and Social Justice at the UFS.
The 2020 programme around the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence will be novel in that it will be run online. “For each person to register and log into the various programmes is a small step. But each such step makes a big difference by saying that the lives of survivors matter and by underscoring that gender-based violence will not be tolerated at the UFS,” says Prof Colin Chasi, Director of the Unit for Institutional Change and Social Justice (UICSJ) at the UFS.

Women and girl children have experienced increased violence in the time of the COVID-19 lockdown, states the UN Secretary General's report, Shared Responsibility, Global Solidarity: Responding to the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19. In South Africa, there have been reports of a scourge of rape in the post-school education and training sector. At the UFS, these developments have challenged the Gender Equity and Anti-Discrimination Office (GEADO) to come up with innovative online interventions.

In 2019, the University of the Free State (UFS) established the Unit for Institutional Change and Social Justice (formerly known as the Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice, founded in 2009). The GEADO was launched on 8 April 2019 and was incorporated into the unit to run a cross-functional Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) and to organise programmes that combat gender-based violence and other forms of gender injustice.

“We have been able to offer our services with minimal disruption throughout the year,” says Geraldine Lengau, a Bloemfontein Campus-based GEADO officer.

“Most exciting for us is that we have taken the lockdown as an opportunity to expand the scope of ways in which we engage with students and communities,” notes Chelepe Mocwana, a GEADO officer on the South Campus. “GEADO has offered a number of online webinars and seminars, and the university has made telephonic services available that support, for example, the mental health of survivors of sexual violence.”

“On the Qwaqwa Campus, where we still have some problems with consistent access to data networks, we were pleased to see that our webinars have been well-subscribed to by students and staff members,” reports Siya Magayana, who is the GEADO officer on this campus.

“Each such step makes a big difference by saying that the
lives of survivors matter and by underscoring that
gender-based violence will not be tolerated at the UFS.”
—Prof Colin Chasi, Director of the UICSJ.

Since 1991, activists around the world have annually coordinated activities around the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence. The 16 days of activism begin on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and run until 10 December, which is International Human Rights Day. The start and end dates signify that the fight to eliminate violence against women advances human rights for all.

Activities to mark the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence will be advertised on various UFS communication platforms.

News Archive

UFS main campus and Vista campus students’ simultaneous graduation a first
2004-12-01

Altogether 284 students from the University of the Free State’s (UFS) main campus and the Vista campus will for the first time graduate during the same ceremony on Thursday 2 December 2004, following the incorporation of the Vista campus into the UFS in January this year.

The ceremony will mainly comprise of the graduation of students from the UFS’s Faculty of Health Sciences. Students from the Vista campus who will be graduating include those from the Faculties of Economic and Management Sciences, Humanities, Law and School of Education. One doctorate will be awarded to a student from Vista campus’ School of Education.

During the ceremony, the first group of students who completed the five-year programme for the MB ChB-course will be receiving their degrees. The last group of students who completed the six-year programme of the same course will also be receiving their degrees. The six-year programme of the MB ChB-course will be fully converted into a five-year programme as from next year.

Prof Stewart Petersen, from the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom, will receive a shield of honour from the UFS’s School of Medicine for his outstanding contribution to, and input in the medical curriculum 2000 that is used for the training of medical students in this school. Prof Petersen’s advice, ideas and recommendations have helped the School of Medicine to put together a medical programme that is currently considered one of the most innovative teaching and training programmes for medical students in South Africa. He is also involved in the Health Professions Education Programme where he acts as co-supervisor for Ph D students at the School of Medicine.

The ceremony will take place at 14:30 in the Callie Human Centre on the UFS main campus.
Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
1 December 2004

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