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11 May 2022 | Story Anthony Mthembu | Photo Edmund de Wet
House Ardour
Students of House Ardour along with other dignitaries cut the ribbon as they launch their new name.

The Health Sciences residence on the Bloemfontein Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS), commonly referred to as SHU 8, has been renamed House Ardour. The official launch of the residence name took place on Saturday, 7 May 2022 in the Callie Human Centre on the Bloemfontein Campus. “This is really a historic moment for us in Residence Affairs, Student Affairs, and I think for the university at large,” expressed the Assistant Director of Student Life at the UFS, Pulane Malefane. The launch takes place after two years of planning and discussions about an appropriate name for the residence. As such, the launch was well attended by some of the students living in the newly renamed residence, along with other dignitaries such as Prof Colin Chasi, Director of the Unit for Institutional Change and Social Justice, Quintin Koetaan, Senior Director of Housing and Residence Affairs, Prof Mpho Jama, Associate Professor in the Office of the Dean: Faculty of Health Sciences, and Nthabiseng Mokhethi who serves as Ardour’s Residence Head, among others.

Embracing a New Name

The name Ardour means to love, and to do something with great passion and enthusiasm. Malefane says the name is symbolic of the fact that many of the students in this residence will go out into the world and delineate those very values through their servitude. There has been a deep yearning from the student body for the renaming of the Health Sciences residence for quite some time. As such, the launch and celebration of this name is acknowledging the residence as part of the UFS community. “Names are important, names can carry deep personal, cultural, and historical connections, it also gives us a sense of who we are, the communities we belong to, and our places in the world,” Malefane highlighted during her speech in the Callie Human Centre.

The Importance of the Residence

Although this co-ed residence is not restricted to students within the Faculty of Health Sciences, the residence is a response to some of the problems that students in the faculty have been facing. “During recess when all the other students have to go home, some of our students still need to remain on campus or even come back earlier. This has created the need to say that we cannot allow our students to move between residences when they have such an academic workload that requires them to be in a space in which they don’t have to worry about where they are going to stay,” indicated Prof Jama. As such, the residence is also an essential way of ensuring that students from the Faculty of Health Sciences focus on developing academically as well as socially in the university space, without worrying about accommodation. 

Subsequent to a few remarks from the dignitaries at the Callie Human Centre, some of the guests descended to Ardour for the cutting of the ribbon. The ribbon was cut by Emily Chikobvu who serves as Ardour’s Prime, along with Quintin Koetaan, and Nthabiseng Mokhethi. “Moving forward, we do not want to hear the name Shoe 8 – that name is in the past – from now on we shall be referred to as House Ardour,” stated Vusimuzi Gqalane, Senior Assistant in the Unit for Institutional Change and Social Justice.


News Archive

Arts and Social Justice festival brings creativity and academia together
2013-08-28

 

Photo: Linda Fekisi
14 August 2013



Who really benefited from the post-1994 democratic dispensation in the sports arena? What happened to the heroes of non-racial sport? Did the 1992 transition to unification wipe out an entire history of black sport in rugby and replaced it with a sanitized version of the sport?

These are some of the questions film producer Mark Fredericks explores in his thought-provoking documentary film ‘Injury Time’. The film is one of several documentaries screened as part of the second annual Artistic and Social Justice Week, hosted by the Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice from 19 to 31 August 2013.

Extended from last year's one-week run, this year’s programme is packed with great productions, exhibitions and intellectual encounters celebrating freedom of expression. A highly-anticipated event on the programme is the open-air film screening of the documentary 'Dear Mandela' on Friday 30 August. This film follows the journey of three young people from their shacks to the highest court in the country as they invoke Nelson Mandela's example and become leaders in a growing social movement.

Speaking at the opening of the festival, Prof André Keet, Director of the Institute, said the purpose of the two week programme is to explore new and different ways of understanding social relations. "It’s an endeavour which is crucial to the Institute's objective of confronting the histories, policies and practices that has shaped and constrained the intellectual and social mandate of universities across the country and world."



“The role of art and literature in reflecting on society, has overtaken – in terms of substance, quality and relevance – the function of critical commentators, political analyst, sociologists and philosophers. Artists are, simply put, better political commentators than political commentators themselves. Better political commentators than philosophers, better political commentators than political analysts. Uniquely positioned to engage with social reality, art and literature demand that we experience artistic work as political acts.” Prof André Keet

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