Confrontation is on the cards at Rhodes University today as protesting students demand a complete academic shutdown.
But, Rhodes management said it would be business as usual today. There were tense scenes at the university this morning when armed police ordered protesting students to remove a campus roadblock or face the consequences.
University vice chancellor Dr Sizwe Mabizela, support staff and police removed the debris from the busy Prince Alfred road intersection.
Police warned students they were illegally blocking a public road outside the drama department and that they would respond with force if it happened again.
Students then moved onto campus and went through several lecture rooms ordering students to stop work and join the protest.
Hot on the heels of a Student Representative Council statement advising students this morning that the university was under shutdown came a statement from Rhodes spokeswoman Catherine Deiner saying it was not.
She posted on the Rhodes SRC site that the academic programme and operations at the university would continue as normal.
She said students had the right to protest but their actions may not infringe on the rights of others.
“The university management acknowledges the student protest action and staff and students are advised to remain calm and not to be confrontational if the students disrupt their work or lectures.”
Protesters said management was "pouring fuel on the fire" of their protest.
The protests were sparked by the publication on social media of a list of 11 Rhodes University students accused of sexual assault.
Students are questioning the efficacy of Rhodes policies around rape and have called on management to address the problems around reporting systems that they said made it difficult for victims to report and seek justice around issues of sexual assault.
“We demand that Rhodes University immediately take steps to address the rape culture on campus, specifically the ways in which the policies and systems in place are complicit in perpetuating it.”
Some of those named were on Sunday night and Monday morning taken into the custody of protesting students, which Mabizela said was against the law.
Mabizela yesterday assured students that the university would revisit its policies and would take immediate steps to beef up mechanisms to support rape survivors.
But students seem to feel their demands have fallen on deaf ears and vowed to continue protests indefinitely until they were heard.
Students marched through campus and into the library this morning gathering support as they went
Rhodes students demand campus shutdown
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