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11 July 2022 | Story Lunga Luthuli | Photo Supplied
Gift of the Givers Donation to the UFS
Staff of the University of the Free State and the Gift of the Givers Foundation on the Bloemfontein Campus holding food packs as a donation to the No Student Hungry Programme.
“It is very hard for some students to make it through tertiary institutions, with most not only having to focus on studies but also having to worry about where their next meal will come from,” said Hlengiwe Nkwanyana, Community Liaison Officer of the Gift of the Givers Foundation.

She shared this when the foundation delivered food parcels on the University of the Free State (UFS) Bloemfontein Campus on 29 June 2022, as part of a partnership that started in 2020.

Nkwanyana said: “Some students at most tertiary institutions come from disadvantaged backgrounds and with the high unemployment rate, there is less support coming from families. The foundation is glad to assist, especially in alleviating poverty.”

The partnership started on the Qwaqwa Campus and has since expanded to all campuses. UFS students who successfully applied for support receive nutritional food parcels from the foundation on a monthly basis.

Annelize Visagie, Senior Officer in the Food Environment Office within the Division of Student Affairs, said the UFS has noted an ever-increasing number of students needing support. The donation from the foundation will see our students “having enough food for the third quarter”.

Visagie said: “This is part of the UFS Food Environment Strategy and the donation will be distributed to students on all three UFS campuses. We have a crisis on our hands; I call on all organisations and individuals who are able to support us to please do so.”

“Students go hungry and need our support, especially during the examination period. Without the support from foundations like the Gift of the Givers Foundation, the UFS would not have been able to sustain the support needed by the students,” said Visagie.

Nkwanyana said the Gift of the Givers Foundation “understands the plight of students, and the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us to support each other in times of need, irrespective of race or colour”.

 Nkwanyana said: “The foundation is proud to partner with the University of the Free State, because we know all the donated parcels will go to deserving students. All students need to worry about now, is ensuring they pass their studies.”

News Archive

Call for campus review and participation into renaming and renewal of statues, signs, and symbols on UFS campuses
2016-08-25

 

The leadership of the University of the Free State (UFS) is issuing a Call for the renaming and renewal of statues, signs, and symbols on the three campuses to staff, students, and alumni.

In line with the founding statement and guidelines of the Naming Committee of Council, The Call will seek to retain the best representations of the history and identity of the UFS over more than a century, while committing to the transformation imperatives of our new democracy so that the totality of statues, signs, and symbols give credence to both the past and the future, all in line with the values of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa.

Submissions should be made to the
SSSC between 21 July 2016 and 31 August 2016.
Proposals can be delivered to the
office of the Director: Communication and
Brand Management at Room 49,
Main Building, Bloemfontein Campus, or
via email to sssc@ufs.ac.za.

The ‘Guiding Principles’ of the Naming Committee, approved by Council on 8 March 2013, are transformation, reconciliation, excellence, distinctiveness, leadership, comprehensiveness, balance and sensitivity. The Policy of the UFS on Naming and Renaming is available here: http://bit.ly/2aeTLUz; and the Remit of the Naming Committee of the UFS is available here: http://bit.ly/29NXESC.

The Call will give special attention to creative submissions from staff, students, and alumni, such as signs and symbols that reflect our entangled past and place rival memories in critical conversation. Whatever is proposed, our commitment to the Academic Project and the Human Project remain foundations on which inspirational proposals could be based. In the end, a campus that is richly diverse, inclusive, and just in its symbolic infrastructure, would give visible meaning to the university’s commitment to social justice and reconciliation.

All submissions should be made to the Statues, Signs, and Symbols Committee (SSSC) between 21 July 2016 and 31 August 2016. Proposals could be delivered in hard copy to the office of the Director: Communication and Brand Management at Room 49, Main Building, Bloemfontein Campus or via email to sssc@ufs.ac.za.

Proposals will be reviewed by the SSSC, which is a subcommittee of the Naming Committee.

Final proposals will be submitted to Council for consideration at its final meeting of the 2016 academic year. In other words, new statues, symbols and signs – those approved by Council – will be implemented from January 2017.

Submissions could include, but are not limited to, the following: the renaming of streets and buildings; the proposal of new statues and other symbols on campus; the renewal of artwork collections; the reconfiguration of existing statues and symbols; the introduction of memorial gardens; the instatement of new galleries, sculptures, and literary collections; the establishment of prominent academic chairs or annual academic lectures in the name of illustrious figures, etc. Particular attention should be given to new buildings in the process of being built, such as residences.

Finally, it is important that the views and recommendations of all staff, students, and alumni be considered in submissions and that every campus citizen, past and present, has a sense of being able to participate fully and freely in the process.

Released by: Lacea Loader (Director: Communication and Brand Management)
Tel: +27 51 401 3422/2707 or +27 83 645 2454
Email: news@ufs.ac.za | loaderl@ufs.ac.za
Fax: +27 51 444 6393

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