Senate backs vice-chancellor in wake of language report

The senate of Stellenbosch University in South Africa on Friday 24 March adopted a motion of confidence in and support for Rector and Vice-Chancellor Professor Wim de Villiers and his management team “in their pursuit of inclusivity and multilingualism” at the institution, reports Times Live.

The motion follows a 14 March South African Human Rights Commission report on its language policy and was tabled by the law faculty’s Professor Geo Quinot, seconded by Professor Mbulungeni Madiba, dean of the education faculty, who said he and the deans “view the intended no-confidence vote as a serious matter of concern, not only for the rector, but for all of us, as language policy and planning matters in this university is a collective and collaborative effort”.

“As one of the leading experts of language policy and planning, I can confidently say the intended no-confidence vote against the rector has no basis. What our university has achieved with regards to multilingualism is not matched by most universities in the country … The management, under the leadership of the rector, has always demonstrated a commitment to inclusive multilingualism, and also provided the requisite budget for implementation. Our budget on multilingualism is way above the budget of most other universities in the country.
Full report on the Times Live site