Politics students petition against pension

by | Mar 13, 2015 | News

RETIRE OR NOT?: Gillian Renshaw (left) and Odwa Abraham in her offi ce at the Politics department. Photo: Valerie Robinson

RETIRE OR NOT?: Gillian Renshaw (left) and Odwa Abraham in her offi ce at the Politics department. Photo: Valerie Robinson

A popular secretary in the Politics department will be forced into retirement at this end month over the protests of students.

Odwa Abraham, a former politics student, said he and other students, along with a lecturer, started a petition to protest the compulsory retirement of secretary Gillian Renshaw.

Renshaw is being forced into retirement because she has reached the mandatory departure age for administrative staff of 65.

Abraham, who is now postgraduate LLB student, said the organisers of the petition were told their demand would be reviewed. However, they were never informed of the outcome of the petition.

“Our issue is here our [petition] was disregarded, it was ignored” said Abraham. “How does the university deal with such issues. What happens in the case where we students want the person to stay?”

He added that according to his knowledge there were two petitions. One started by the students which was signed by over 90% of the third-year politics class, and another by the lecturers and other staff members of the department.

The head of the Politics department, Prof Daryl Glaser, said Renshaw could continue in her job if the university allowed it.

“She’d be able and willing to continue if retirement rules allowed. The petition attests to her popularity,” Glaser said.

He said that an effort was to try and keep Renshaw but this only secured a few extra months after which the university insisted she retire. Renshaw’s contract ends at the end of this month, no replacement has been hired yet.

“She’d be able and willing to continue if retirement rules allowed. The petition attests to her popularity.”

Renshaw has been working for the Politics department since July 2009. She told Wits Vuvuzela that she was very flattered by the initiative.

She was not involved in organising the petition. However, she said that if the students were organising a petition, it must be done properly.

“If they were going to do it they must send it through the right channels,” Renshaw said.

She added that while the university has rules of retirement, she feels it should be an individual’s choice whether on not they want to stay on for another year.

Another former Politics student, Bheki Temba, said Renshaw does not only fulfil her administrative duties but supports the students academically and emotionally as well. She knows every student’s name from their first year. Temba said Renshaw even supported him when his grandfather passed away.

Abraham said Renshaw keeps the department going and would even advise students on which courses to take.

A posting for Renshaw’s job is advertised on Wits’ website with interviews for a replacement are already being set up.

Wits Legal Office “gags” Politics department

by | Mar 12, 2013 | Featured 1, News

The Political Studies (politics) department has written that it is “deeply disappointed” by the action taken by the Wits Legal Office following allegations of sexual harassment made by Wits Vuvuzela, last year. The department  alleges that it was effectively “gagged” by the Wits Legal Office in its attempt to address the allegations against one of its staff members. A response written by the Head of Department, Professor Daryl Glaser, was widely circulated via email on Monday evening.

 

“Not long after the publication of this article, members of [the Politics] Department learnt that this report most probably concerned one of our colleagues,” said the open letter.

 

In an interview with Wits Vuvuzela last week, Glaser confirmed an investigation was underway against the former HOD, but stopped short of confirming the identity of the individual.

 

But in this latest letter Glaser did not shy away from naming Prof Rupert Taylor as the academic at the centre of the allegations.

 

 “We have not been impressed with the way in which the university legal department has dealt with this issue”

 

According to Glaser, the department was informed “at a meeting with the legal office that they would set up an investigation into the rumours and allegations.” They were advised by the legal office “that actions taken by [the] department could potentially complicate any future investigation or other related initiatives.”

 

The politics department stated in their response: “While we appreciate that discretion and restraint are required here, we have not been impressed with the way in which the university legal department has dealt with this issue.”

Prof Rupert Taylor of the Political Studies department. Pic: Facebook.

Prof Rupert Taylor of the Political Studies department. Pic: Facebook.

 

“When Prof Taylor stepped down, we were explicitly instructed not to say anything about why there was a new head of department. When we raised the prospect of discussing sexual harassment with our students, we were expressly forbidden from doing so, as it might compromise the investigation,” said Glaser.

 

Dikeledi Selowa, a former politics first year class representative for 2012, told Wits Vuvuzela that no information was given to the students by the department and they weren’t provided with a platform to discuss the allegations.

 

The department’s response explained: “When our students wanted to hold a public meeting to exchange experiences and handling of sexual harassment on campus, they were informed that no persons or departments could be named, that it could only take the form of a protest.”

 

“No public comment of any sort was permissable”

 

Glaser told Wits Vuvuzela that that no students had come forward with official statements against Prof Taylor. But the department was also discouraged from asking students to come forward “because the act of asking them about sexual harassment would compromise anything that they reported in response.”

 

He continued by saying: “When we repeatedly pushed for a public statement from the university in response to the Vuvuzela article, nothing was forthcoming. No public comment of any sort was permissible.

 

“In our opinion, the extreme conservatism and lack of responsiveness of the legal department has been a major stumbling block in addressing this issue.”

 

The letter stated that until now the legal office has still not communicated with the politics department what happened to the investigation. But instead has “effectively gagged [the] department from making public statements or taking other public initiatives in the name of protecting an investigation.”

 

Wits Legal office refuses to comment

 

Wits Vuvuzela tried to contact the Legal Office for a response to the allegations made by the political studies department but they refused to comment.

Tasneem Wadvalla, a spokesperson for the legal office, responded by saying that because of the virtue of their (the legal office) position within the university, where they might have to act as legal representation for the Wits Vuvuzela, they cannot engage in answering questions about allegations or any other legal matters within the university.

According to Wits University spokesperson, Shirona Patel, there were two investigations on sexual harassment currently happening at the university. “The first, where an individual was named, was that of Tsepo wa Mamatu, while the second was a campus-wide inquiry where all people have been encouraged to come forward with allegations of sexual harassment.”

[pullquote]”There is scope for a more effective university response to sexual harassment and sexual violence on our campus.”[/pullquote]

 

The political department felt that “It is imperative that investigations prompted by the Vuvuzela article exceed the mandate of the announced inquiry” They said that the “conservative” approach to the issue “suggest a desire to avoid grappling with the full dimensions of this critical issue and feel that a general inquiry primarily focusing upon general policy and procedure is inadequate.”

 

The department said they were “frustrated” that this issue has gone on for so long without a strong public statement by the university, and that there is scope for a more “effective university response to sexual harassment and sexual violence on our campus.”

 

The open letter suggested that the approach of the legal department needs to be reviewed and “information needs to be constantly and immediately available for students and staff so that they are empowered to secure their own safety.”

“Students and staff need to be heard, involved and consulted in the process of battling sexual violence of all forms on this campus.”