I HAVE never been able to fully support the #FeesMust Fall protests. This isn’t because I believe poor students should be denied access to university on the basis of a lack of funding, or even because I disagree with the tactics used by protesting students to get the attention of the government and the media. It is because, to my mind, any debate about universities is inherently elitist.This is especially true in SA, where to earn a university exemption and the opportunity to even apply to study at a university means that you have enjoyed more privilege in your life than the vast majority of your countrymen and women. This is the case whether you are black or white. If you get into university, you are one of the lucky ones.That doesn’t delegitimise the struggles faced by those students who have battled to make it to university or deny the historical inequalities that make it easier for white students to qualify for a place, but it does raise questions about where state money is best...
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