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11 February 2022 | Story Lacea Loader

 

The University of the Free State (UFS) takes note that the application by Free State for Choice (FS4C) for an interim interdict against the university’s COVID-19 Regulations and Required Vaccination Policy was struck off the roll in the Free State High Court in Bloemfontein today, due to FS4C’s inability to prove that the application should be heard as an urgent matter.

 
Although the university management respects the outcome and decision of the court, the UFS was never of the view that the implementation of the policy should be set aside.
 
The university confirms the stipulations in the policy, that – as from 14 February 2022 – staff, students, and visitors will either be required to be vaccinated, to upload a negative SARS (COVID-19) PCR test (not older than a week) on its campus access system if they are not vaccinated, or to have an approved deferral or an approved exemption, in order to access campus.
 

The university management remains of the view that the implementation of the policy is consistent with its prerogative and obligation to maintain a safe working and learning environment for its staff, students, and visitors.

COVID-19 Regulations and Required Vaccination Policy 


Released by:
Lacea Loader (Director: Communication and Marketing)
Telephone: +27 51 401 3422
Email: news@ufs.ac.za

News Archive

Ecofeminism a possibe solution to impending famine
2016-05-12

Description: Ecofeminism Tags: Ecofeminism

Dr Inge Konik (right) is pictured with her postdoctoral supervisor, Prof Bert Olivier, Senior Research Professor at the Department of Philosophy.
Photo: Valentino Ndaba

In view of the environmental and social problems faced in South Africa today, researchers such as Dr Inge Konik are hard at work mapping these issues and seeking long-term solutions. Dr Konik,  a lecturer in the Department of Journalism, Media and Philosophy at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) shared her views in a presentation on 6 May 2016. She spoke about revaluing indigenous ways of life and subsistence-focused lifeways, linking this to materialist ecological feminism, or ecofeminism for short.

Dr. Konik’s presentation, hosted by the Department of Philosophy at the Bloemfontein Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS), was entitled: “Transversal reflections on ecological feminism and ubuntu.” The research underpinning the presentation derived from Dr Konik’s doctoral thesis which was supervised by Ariel Salleh (University of Sydney) and Andrea Hurst (NMMU).

Dr Konik’s research suggests that ecofeminism - which is a convergence between environmentalism and feminism - may hold the answers to the question of how we may work against environmental and social injustices. She also proposed that society look back toward subsistence communities of the past, and those currently being marginalized in our industrial societies, and linked the values evidenced in the practices of these communities to the African philosophty of ubuntu. In order to solve  complex contemporary challenges Dr Konik suggests that we combine these seemingly disparate theoretical frames - ubuntu and ecofeminism - by applying a transversal approach, which involves openness to dialogue  between traditions.

“My focus was on ecological feminism and critical theory and very specifically on South Africa, given the challeges South Africa faces - the environmental and social challenges and what kind of frameworks would be helpful,” said Dr Konik, who will officially become a postdoctoral research fellow at the department as of July 2016.

Prof Pieter Duvenage, Head of the Departement, stated that compelling research outputs are anticipated from Dr Konik as a fellow.

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