SOUTH AFRICA: Academic freedom at risk

07 December 2008

South Africa needs to have a proper, open discussion about academic freedom, say academics. The international and South African academic community is outraged over the way the University of KwaZulu-Natal has treated two of its academics who criticised vice-chancellor Professor Malegapuru Makgoba in the media, writes Sue Blaine in Business Day.

Physicist Professor Nithaya Chetty, who is president of the South African Institute of Physics, resigned before his 8 December disciplinary hearing. Mathematician Professor John van den Berg signed a settlement agreement last week allowing him to keep his job and stop disciplinary action.

The University's actions over the issue could hinder research collaboration between it and universities across the globe, a group of 34 academics from universities including Stanford, Oxford, Chicago, New York, London and Denmark's Roskilde University said.
Full report on the Business Day site

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