The management of Stellenbosch University claims it is actively pursuing transformation and that it supports and encourages student activism. This is contradicted by the fact that members of the Open Stellenbosch collective have been threatened with disciplinary action for holding meetings on campus on the subjects of racism and exclusion. Open Stellenbosch members have been intimidated and subjected to verbal abuse and hate speech both in person and online by other students and faculty members (in some cases departmental colleagues and in the classroom by lecturers).

We call on the management of Stellenbosch University to stop intimidating us. We also call on them to openly condemn the hate speech and intimidation that has been directed at the movement by some faculty members and students.

Open Stellenbosch is a collective of university students and staff seeking radical institutional change in a space of deeply entrenched structural racism and patriarchy. We are working to purge the oppressive remnants of apartheid that exist here in pursuit of a truly African university.

@OpenStellies | #OpenStellenbosch | openstellenbosch@gmail.com

Please email letters of support. We need them.