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11 September 2024
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Story Anthony Mthembu
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Photo Anthony Mthembu and Chelsea Carolus
From the left: Geraldine Lengau, Senior Officer in the Unit for Institutional Change at the UFS; and Oratile Reina, West College Prime.
As part of the initiatives lined up for College Week, the student leaders of West College at the University of the Free State (UFS) hosted a dialogue that primarily focused on discussing social justice as a value of Vision 130. The dialogue was held at Outeniqua Residence on 3 September 2024 and was well attended by students within West College.
According to Oratile Reina, West College Prime, “the motivation for the dialogue was to prepare newly elected leaders and our college community to align their efforts with Vision 130 – a vision that aims to create a more inclusive, equitable, and socially just environment on campus”. As such, she highlights that the dialogue was an opportunity for leaders to discuss practical strategies for implementing these values in their respective spaces, and to encourage those in West College to become better citizens inside and outside the university.
A conversation on social justice
The dialogue was facilitated by Geraldine Lengau, Senior Officer in the Unit for Institutional Change and Social Justice at the UFS. Lengau touched on several aspects pertaining to the topic of discussion. Firstly, she allowed the audience to give their definition of social justice, especially as students within the institution. In addition, she went on to talk to the audience about sexual assault in the context of social justice. In this instance, Lengau gauged whether the students knew which processes to follow in the event of a sexual assault incident, and whether they were acquainted with the UFS Sexual Harassment, Sexual Misconduct, and Sexual Violence Policy. Furthermore, the audience was given the opportunity to outline what social justice looks like to them in the spaces they occupy, including in their respective faculties, the sports they play, and the leadership structures they form part of. “I was encouraged to see that students take their right to a socially just university in very high regard, and that they were willing to break it down from what Vision 130 proposes, in order to align it with their common understanding,” said Lengau.
As the dialogue concluded, the audience signed a pledge committing to uphold the values of Vision 130. According to Reina, “The pledge represents a promise to take concrete steps towards fostering an inclusive and equitable campus culture. By signing the pledge, the leaders are not only agreeing to embody these principles in their leadership roles but are also holding themselves accountable to their peers and the broader university community.”
Babies need time on their tummies
2009-08-07
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Babies who spend more time on their tummies (in the prone position) when they are awake are more advanced in their motor development than children who are not allowed to lie on their tummies, or only for short periods, shows research published by Ms Dorothy Russell in the South African Journal of Occupational Therapy. Ms Russell is a senior occupational therapist in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health in the Faculty of Heath Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS). The study shows there were significant differences in the active movements of the arms and the pushing-up on the arms between prone and non-prone infants.
She says research and clinical evidence indicate that parents are not well educated regarding the value of placing their infants in the prone position during the early stages of infancy. The supine position where babies lie on the backs, leads to a decrease in the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), and mothers steer away of putting their babies in the prone position because of that. However, lack of exposure to prone position can result in deceased opportunities to learn functions such as rolling over, sitting up, crawling and pulling to the standing position.
Photo: Leatitia Pienaar |