Wits academics back students on fees and violent suppression
UNIVERSITY of the Witwatersrand academic staff have broken rank and aligned themselves with students by echoing their demands, calling for an end to violent tactics and will stage a protest at the Great Hall on Friday.The Academic Staff Association of Wits University set out six demands in a statement late on Thursday — including increased public funding for higher education, more effort in the transformation and decolonisation of higher education — and called for the removal of security forces, private or police, from campus.The association, which said it represented more than 200 Wits academic staff, said the academics also wanted the cessation of all violent tactics, genuine dialogue between university management and students, the resumption of academic activities as soon as possible, and a national day of action attending to the crisis in higher education and inadequate government funding.Media studies lecturer and association representative Mehita Iqani said the academics had m...
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