Rays of sunlight amid the storm of student protests shone through at Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) Wellington this week, after its library was largely destroyed during campus unrest.
Last week, CPUT’s spokesperson Lauren Kansley was excited to share the news that “we had the most amazing outpouring of love and care from CPUT colleagues across campuses who gathered to return normalcy to the library.
“Everything was back to normal in a few days, thanks to the incredible hard work of these individuals who worked tirelessly.”
The library at the Wellington campus serves students in a number of disciplines, including education and agriculture (among other courses).
“Our Wellington campus has an important historical significance,” Kansley pointed out, “and, today, teachers who are trained here play a critical role in educating learners in Afrikaans and multi-grade education across the country.”
Unfortunately, she says, the library was recently the scene of protest action, when a small group of students entered the facility and tossed books from shelves claiming they were racist.
“Our library staff have played a critical role in curating the books over the years and are empathetic when it is clear to many that some older books are contentious and offensive to many of the students.
“We do, however, understand the need to protect and maintain these collections, which support teaching, learning and research. Hence they must remain to support research endeavours.” Kansley added the incident had upset staff and students.
“Collectively we are determined not to allow this negative incident to taint our beautiful Wellington campus. And from this we have seen the most positive stories of unity emerge.”
Staff and students from across CPUT gathered to lend support to the Wellington campus’ library staff by helping return its books to the shelves in two days. The facility was reopened soon after. “We are grateful to people who exemplify CPUT values of ubuntu, oneness and unity,” Kansley said.
