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25 August 2022 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Rulanzen Martin
Vency Mupupa, Jessica Lynne and Dr Nadine Lake
From the left: Vency Mupupa, Jessica Lynn and Dr Nadine Lake.

Creating residences and other spaces that adapt to change without it being forced is a process that requires time, patience, and nurturing. Through recent engagements with Jessica Lynn, a transgender activist from the Kinsey Institute in the United States, the Centre for Gender and Africa Studies (CGAS) and the Housing and Residence Affairs (HRA) division at the University of the Free State (UFS) are committing to creating dialogue and engagements that will foster gender-, transgender- and LGBTQI-positive attitudes for residences on and off the UFS campuses. 

Most of the advocacy and educating work envisaged by the CGAS and HRA did not materialise due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “There are issues coming to the forefront amongst the student community in terms of gender identity and gender fluidity on all three UFS campuses. It is visible that these issues exist, but they are not being discussed,” said Dr Nadine Lake of the CGAS. She added that the Centre would like the UFS to continue addressing issues like acceptance, inclusion, and diversity, but to also focus on gender identity and not just on race.  

Inclusive living spaces: The seed has been planted 

“We reached out to Housing and Residence Affairs (HRA) around creating more education and advocacy for students and staff within HRA around transgender identity specifically, but then also gender,” Lake said. According to Vency Mupupa, Senior Officer: Accommodation Services at HRA, the seed for a broad-based gender awareness project within on-campus residences started in 2019, when HRA was tasked with conducting research into inclusive housing. 

“The focus is not only on transgender people but the LGBTQI community at large. We are starting small, but eventually it will affect the larger student population,” Mupupa said. 

She emphasised that the focus is not only on students in residences but also on staff within HRA and the residences. “We have 25 000 students, and on-campus residences can only accommodate around 6 000 students, so it is a drop in the ocean, but if we can educate everyone else the space will move away from being unaccepting and become more inclusive.” 

Transgender awareness breaks down walls 

Referencing her own experiences, Lynn, who is a transgender woman, said that advocating for gender awareness is all about creating safe spaces for people to be their authentic self. “It is a very closeted feeling,” she said. “When I transitioned, I experienced a lot of bad things, and I wanted to use my experience to help educate others so that are not trapped the same way I was. There is a very small percentage of people worldwide who identify as transgender… It is not like there are no transgendered people here, it is just that they are scared of coming out.” 

Universities are the perfect space

Lynn decided her awareness campaigns should focus on university students because the students she reaches are the next generation of doctors, lawyers, politicians, and judges. “It is all about how we can educate the next generation.”

Most university or college students are going to progress in their careers and will be able to use their influence to educate the next generation. “But, most importantly, most of these students are going to become parents – and sooner or later one of them might become a parent to a bisexual, transgender, or gay child, and through my presentations it would have hopefully opened a lot for them to comprehend,” Lynn said. 

Lynn is internationally renowned for her transgender awareness work and advocacy, and her longstanding relationship with CGAS widened the scope to intensify this project. “Jessica’s work is very important, firstly because of her affiliation with the Kinsey Institute, but most importantly her work in transgender identity,” Dr Lake said. Lynn has presented classes, seminars and talks at some of the leading universities around the globe and in South Africa has delivered talks at the UFS and Rhodes University.

• The Department of Social Work at the UFS will host a Gender Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Seminar with Jessica Lynn on 2 September 2022. Click here for more information. 

News Archive

Clarification of charges against the Reitz students
2009-10-24

Statement by Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Free State (UFS)

The University of the Free State (UFS) has not “withdrawn charges” against the four Reitz students. This needs to be clarified.

There are three processes underway, and they must not be confused:

  1. 1. The criminal charges against the students were laid by the Directorate of Special Prosecutions in the province, and the university has no say over those processes in the criminal courts. That process remains in place.

  2. The human rights charges are led by the Human Rights Commission, in the province, and the university has no say over those processes in the equality court. That process remains in place.

  3. The university simply withdrew its own complaint against the students, insofar as university processes are concerned, and on that basis decided to invite the students back to continue their studies and to re-open Reitz as a model of social justice and racial reconciliation as an exemplary university residence. These decisions alone fall within the realm of the university’s authority.

The decision with respect to the withdrawal of the university’s complaint against the students was based on two considerations:

a. the institution’s own accountability for what happened, and creating (or not interrupting) the conditions under which racism and racist attacks were even possible on the campus of an institution of higher learning. It is in this context that the institution has decided to offer reparations for harm to the dignity and esteem of the five workers.

b. the institution’s desire to create the conditions for racial reconciliation on a deeply divided campus, and in doing so to accelerate the chances of transformation at the UFS.

There were broad consultations with the Human Rights Commission, Cosatu provincial, Sasco, Nehawu as representatives of the workers; there were also discussions with the leadership of the Student Representative Council (SRC) about the need to resolve the Reitz issue outside of the courts; and the matter of Reitz and its resolution through negotiation was also raised with the Minister of Higher Education and Training. There were also meetings with the legal representatives of both the students and the provincial prosecuting authority.

There was a meeting with the workers to ensure them of the university’s full support for them as workers, but the case itself was only discussed with their representatives, Nehawu.

Sasco National has communicated a message of support to the university to return the two students and to re-open the Reitz residence.

 

Issued by: Lacea Loader
Deputy Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@ufs.ac.za  
19 October 2009

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