1. Diversity: An Introduction
In the South African context, with the socio-political history and the process of reformation in the country, the issues regarding identity, community, difference and diversity are perhaps those which students are forced to face on campus at this point in time. Diversity exists on several levels of existence, affecting relationships between different racial groups, economic classes, genders, ethnic groups, religious organisations, language groups and age groups. There are obviously both advantages and disadvantages to such a fragmented society. A heterogeneous society can benefit people in terms of their range of experience and understanding, while teaching skills like tolerance and empathy. However, the dangers of such a fragmented society include the potential for a great deal of conflict and dissatisfaction if one group or individual does not feel part of the nation as a whole. This type of conflict is obviously felt at a tertiary level, when young adults are finding their identity and relating that identity to one or more of the diverse groups in their life experiences. There are methods of easing this transition, which will affect the manner in which a particular university, like the University of Port Elizabeth (UPE) will manage their planning to harmonise the diverse groups in its particular community.
2. Issues of Diversity Within the Context of Educational Institutions
Ann Harper (1997), in a seminar reflecting the challenges of diversity on university campuses in South Africa, identifies three areas that are issues within the context of tertiary education. These include issues surrounding institutional transformation, the political history that affects the current situation and the management of diversified conditions on South African campuses. Each is relevant in the context of this assignment.
Harper’s first issue looks at the need for institutional transformation. Universities are academic institutions that are required to develop mental power, emotional stability and other miscellaneous talents of their students, without discrimination on the grounds of race, gender or age. Because of South Africa’s socio-political history, tertiary education has been moulded in the ideology of apartheid on the model of a segregated patriarchal society. Harper quotes Nasima Badsha on the relationship between diversity and transformation:
Most institutions are therefore attempting to tackle diversity within the context of the transformation process since it impacts on almost every aspect of academic life from access and student support to curriculum reform and the social and learning environment.
Thus, it is necessary for universities to use the inherent potential of the institution itself, and to reflect an attitude of acceptance of the student body’s diversity within their mission statement, core values and language policies. These factors are in essence regionally dependent and their relation to UPE will be discussed in due course.
The second factor influencing the issue of diversity in universities is the political ‘baggage’ that has been carried over from the apartheid era. Also, diversity need to be accepted on several levels – cultural, linguistic, racial and social – in order for a policy of pluralism and multi-culturalism to come into effect. Harper states in her article that ‘diversity is not just about colour’. So institutions have to consider class, economic status, gender, ethnicity, religion, urban prejudice, language and age when constructing their diversity management policies. Only then will organizations be cable to resolve possible conflict between the diverse groups on any campus.
Harper’s third factor involves the actuality of campus diversity. The social diversity of the country is reflected in universities and, because of previous discrimination, minority groups may still feel threatened. Therefore, action taken by universities needs to be publicly and openly done, in a dynamic fashion that is visible for students in a heterogeneous body to witness. This level of action will allow for open channels of communication, decreasing the need for student protests and consequentially, tension on campus. Harper states that these changes need to occur in the systems of ‘institutional decision-making and governance’, ‘academic scholarship, teaching and research’, ‘student profile’, ‘student services and support’, ‘staff profile’ and in the ‘institutional commitment to the community’. In this manner the diversity of all parties involved in the university can be involved: the investors, senate, student body, staff and the surrounding population.
3. The University of Port Elizabeth’s Policy Towards Diversity
An examination of UPE’s mission statement and core values, as well as one of their educational policies, reveals UPE’s recognition of diversity on campus in terms of race, culture and language. The mission statement, available from the UPE web page in English, Afrikaans and Xhosa – reflecting the three main linguistic groups at UPE – reads as follows:
The University of Port Elizabeth is a learning community with a clear focus on development. Our programmes and services are informed by our societal context and reflect our commitment to be a major provider of cutting-edge knowledge and well-equipped leaders. (UPE Mission Statement)
This declaration reveals that UPE has accepted responsibility as an educational facility in the diverse community of South Africa. The fact that the programmes and services provided at the institution are influenced by the society in which UPE is based is indeed a positive one. This broad statement is embroidered upon in UPE’s set of core values, which promote ‘learning and working, without fear of any harm, in an open, empowering and creative organisational culture’, ‘equity through the maintenance of the principle of equality and through affirmative action aimed at equalising opportunities and outcomes’ and ‘representative and meaningful participation in decision making’ (UPE Core Values). Additionally, the language policy at UPE officially allows students the freedom of choosing English and Afrikaans as their medium of instruction, while Xhosa is gradually being phased into the courses. The intentions UPE are focused on using the variety of experience offered by a heterogeneous culture to create unity within the diverse student system on campus.
UPE has provided several facilities for students to bridge the cultural diversity at the institution. The most obvious body used to empower the student body is the Student Representative Council (SRC). This is the managerial organization of the Student Union, which counts every registered UPE students as a member. The representative council, including a president and a portfolio-based committee, is elected by the students themselves. The SRC envisages that their function on campus is ‘to address the diverse interests of the student community by representation in all aspects important to students’ (UPE Student Representative Council). This representational aspect involves the membership of the president on UPE’s Executive Management team, allowing a channel for student opinions to be conducted to the university Senate and Council. Their provision for the management of diversity by the SRC is reflected in the infrastructure of the organization: there are portfolios for Transformation, Gender, Student Interests, Community Development, Academic Interests and Student Development, Current Affairs and the Environment, Culture and Recreation, and Liaison and Marketing.
In terms of cultural responsibility, the University can also not be faulted in its provision of services for the student body. The most prestigious of these societies is UPE Cultura, a department that operates within UPE to extend the range of arts and culture within the community and further abroad. UPE Cultura views their responsibility as the conduit for cultural empowerment at the institution:
Specific opportunities are created for students to ensure their participation and development of their skills in the performing arts, and to exercise and develop their need for cultural and artistic expression, on and off the University campus. (UPE Cultura)
The facilities provided include an annual preliminary drama course presented by a qualified lecturer in the performing arts, a culture week during which students are invited to display their talents, a professionally directed production (the past three years have seen students performing Athol Fugard’s People Are Living There, Jean Anouilh’s Antigone and the modern opera The Medium), community service events (like the annual Youth Music competition) and the many events which the UPE Choir attend. These events are promoted through the local print media, which ensures that students are promoted in whichever field of participation they choose. More informally, there are several student societies, catering for religious groups, recreational groups, academic groups and cultural groups. Jolly Chandia, the Societies Council Chairman for 2000 sees the student societies as a reflection of the diverse variety of cultures at UPE, essential for ‘the development of the human being to their fullest potential. UPE societies help facilitate the process of this development, encouraging (one) to explore (one’s) potential and embrace opportunities’ (UPE Student Societies).
Thus, adequate provision is made for the cultural needs of students at UPE, as well as for their political and educational needs. All the tools to build a united student body in the context of their diversity are there. So where does the problem lie? If not with the institution, it must be with the students.
4. Problems and Solutions
A stroll through the campus at UPE would indicate that there is minimal communication between the diversely different cultural groups. One can see groups of African students, Asian Students, Coloured Students, Indian Students and White students (split again into groups of English and Afrikaans students), communing at the Kraal, in the Library foyer or on the grass quad at the centre of the campus. And yet, in the lecture hall – and particularly in classes that facilitate random discussion groups – there are few problems in communication when groups are composed of members from random cultural groups. Why has this attitude in the classroom not carried beyond the walls of the lecture room? Surely not because the students only want to work together? The problem lies in the fact that there is no functional group life on the campus. It is all very well for UPE to offer amenities for the students, but the fact that these facilities are not being used to their maximum potential undermines the provision of student services. Each region of these facilities needs to be addressed separately.
As far as the educational needs go, the mission statement and accompanying core values reflect an admirable attitude on the part of UPE. This attitude is something that, with the help of a sound governing board and a committed lecturing staff will manifest itself as time passes. The one aspect that needs attention is the language policy, which is extremely impressive in theory but horribly mediocre in reality. There have been complaints about the fact that some major non-linguistic courses with a substantial Afrikaans student body are presented only in English. One Afrikaans student has voiced that although she knows that the language policy allows her freedom of choice in her language of preference and although she knows that she is able to express herself more eloquently in her mother tongue, her fear of discrimination by the lecturers involved overrides her rights of choice. Of course, there are other factors influencing the facet of instructional media, including the availability of textbooks in languages other than English. How issues such as these will influence the inclusion of an even less textually accessible language like Xhosa is unimaginable. That is the one factor that needs to be addressed as far as the educational matters are concerned before the diversity on campus can be equalised in this area of the instructive community.
Political diversity on the campus is an issue that needs to be addressed rather urgently. The abuse of power in position on the SRC has been brought to the attention of students in the past four years, leaving students disillusioned about a society that is potentially of great use to them. There needs to be a double-sided revolution here: firstly, the students need to be made aware of the functions of the SRC within the university, both in the society’s involvement with the Executive Management team and in terms of what can be achieved using the diverse portfolios within the organization. Secondly, the elected officials in the SRC need to accept the responsibility that goes along with the power that has been invested in them. Additionally, the SRC needs to make their actions publicly known to the student body and the officials need to accept a stance of accountability for their actions. When both of these tasks have been addressed, there will be an open channel of communication between the various groups within the student body, allowing for the growth of unity between these groups. This basis of unity will allow for more efficient communication to the management team when larger problems need to be addressed on behalf of the student body.
Although the cultural societies on campus are doing much to promote cultural unity, there is more that can be done in terms of the promotion of these societies on campus. For instance, the performing arts is a region that, like sport, can be used to create unity between diverse groups of people. There are a fair number of people who rush to the stage for Culture Week in August each year, often with little idea of what it entails to present anything more than an inappropriately raucous skit. Perhaps UPE Cultura should consider combining the performance development programme with Culture Week, allowing for students from diverse backgrounds to work towards a common goal and produce work of some quality – one of the oldest methods created for the development of relationships between previously unassimilated individuals. As far as the student societies are concerned, the work done to acquire new members at the start of each year should be continued throughout the year. The groups should also consider arranging themselves more formally, and present themselves with pride to the body of students.
5. Conclusion
The problems that have been discussed above all reflect on the organisation of various societies at UPE. The organisation of these smaller groups will positively affect the success of the greater community in all its diverse regions. But these changes will not happen overnight and will require time to manifest themselves into university practice. However, there is also one last point that must be made: these changes can only come from the students themselves. Unless there is a desire for a united community at UPE by the people involved in that community, there is nothing that can be done to improve the situation. Hopefully this is not the case, as the benefits of living in a diverse society are vastly enriching – and signify the pinnacle of what living in South Africa’s “rainbow nation” can represent.
References
Harper, A. 1997. ‘How Diversity Debates and Issues Express Themselves at Institutional/Campus Level.’ at http://chet.hsrc.ac.za/management/970121.html.
UPE Website. Core Values
UPE Website. Cultura
UPE Website. Foreign Students
UPE Website. Language of Tuition
UPE Website. Mission Statement
UPE Website. Residences
UPE Website. Student Representative Council
UPE Website. Student Societies
