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23 May 2024
State of the Nation Book Launch

The Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Prof Francis Petersen, invites you to attend the upcoming book launch of State of the Nation: Quality of Life and Wellbeing.

Celebrating its 20th year of existence, this HSRC flagship publication serves as an invaluable, independent scholarly resource offering insights into the current state of South Africa. The theme of the 2024 edition, Quality of Life and Wellbeing, underscores the commitment to understanding and addressing critical societal issues. Edited by Profs Vasu Reddy, Narnia Bohler-Muller, Zitha Mokomane, and Crain Soudien, this edition builds on the preceding editions, focusing on HSRC priorities of poverty and inequality in novel and relevant ways.

During the launch, UFS scholars and editors will hold an interactive session and panel discussion; we look forward to your participation, which will help to enrich the conversations.

 

Date: Thursday 13 June 2024

Time:  15:00 to 16:30 (guests required to be seated by 14:45)

Venue: Equitas Auditorium, Bloemfontein Campus

RSVP:   https://ufsweb.co/3QGWpXY  before 10 June 2024

Contact: For more information, please contact Pienaaran1@ufs.ac.za

ONLY MS Teams for Qwaqwa and South Campus staff (upon request to the RSVP address)

Books available for purchase at the event venue. Card payments will only be accepted.

News Archive

UFS’ position on student politics
2011-09-01

The University of the Free State (UFS) welcomes politics on its campus. It especially invites students to participate in all the political activities on campus, ranging from seminars and debates on national and provincial politics, and organization within party political structures. Earlier the year, in the run-up to the Local Government Elections, a programme was run on campus with all political parties participating in public and radio debates with students on political issues.

A university must be a place for all kinds of ideas and organizations---social, cultural, religious, academic and, yes, political. The perception that the UFS has “banned” politics is simply not true, nor is it possible within a constitutional democracy.
 
The University of the Free State once again invites SASCO and any other political groupings that have not yet registered to participate in campus life, to do so as soon as possible. It is important to the UFS that all student bodies enjoy full participation in campus life, and that there exists a vibrant and exciting political life on the campus alongside academic, social, cultural and religious life.
 
The Student Representative Council (SRC) Elections at the UFS has been constituted on independent candidacy and non-party-political basis. This is a decision crafted and recommended by the Broad Student Transformation Forum, whose members are elected by students, and approved for implementation by the highest authority of the university, the Council. The decisions of the Student Forum entails that all students can nominate individuals for a variety of student leadership positions, which includes nomination for elective portfolios in the SRC elections, but also within nine sub-councils that hold ex-officio seats on the SRC.
 
The old system which restricted student leadership to representation on a party-political basis only (DA, ANC, Freedom Front Plus etc) no longer exists.
 
This decision of the Student Forum ensures that the rights of all students to directly elect their representatives are protected, and that the SRC in fact represents the student body as a whole and not particular interest groups alone. This decision enables ALL students to stand for and participate in campus politics in the SRC elections, though not on a party political ticket. In the 2011 SRC Elections, for example, SASCO members were indeed mandated by its local branch to stand as candidates for various elected positions, as did other political parties such as the DA Student Organisation, a development which the university welcomes. 
 
Most importantly, the UFS insists that all students participate in university life with respect for the rights of all students, irrespective of their social beliefs or political commitments. The UFS insists that no student or student grouping acts to disrupt campus life or insult university staff or denigrate fellow students on grounds of race, religion, language, gender, etc. This is very important to the UFS as it works to build a non-racial culture that respects our common humanity. Our students must learn that democracy and decency go hand in hand, and that part of learning at a university, is to learn to differ without resorting to a language of derision.
 
In short, the University of the Free State warmly welcomes full participation in politics, as in other spheres of student life, on all three its campuses.
 
Statement by Prof. Jonathan Jansen, UFS Vice-Chancellor and Rector.

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