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Die MATIE
AGT-EN-SEWENTIGSTE JAARGANG | NO 6
DINSDAG 30 APRIL 2019
Lees Shaznay Henney se wenstuk 9
BIG DEBATE ON CAMPUS Dagbreek hosted a discussion on campus on Friday. Topics included “White privilege: Fact or Fiction” and “Rape Culture: Fact or Fiction”. It sparked debate with some students commenting that Big Daddy Liberty (pictured left), who has his own YouTube show named The Big Liberty Show, was not being objective when facilitating the talk. Dagbreek hoped that this talk would serve as a “conversation starter”. Photos: Francois Lombaard
Students sleeping in study spaces NICOLE NASSON
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omputer laboratories across campus not only provide internet access and computer facilities to students, but also provide shelter to students without accommodation, and this is not a new occurrence. Homeless students have been sleeping in computer labs for years, according to Andrew Stephens, the senior technical officer at Humarga, the Humanities computer area. Stephens said that most of the students that sleep in Humarga are occasional squatters who would rather stay overnight to work and complete assignments than go home, but acknowledges that homeless students sleep in Humarga as well. According to Stephens, the two most obvious
signs to recognise whether someone has slept in a computer lab are chairs put together in a line to represent a makeshift bed, and bathroom stalls that have been locked for days. Stephens recalls one transfer student in particular who had funding problems this year and therefore slept in Humarga for a few days. “[The student] had a bursary, but the amount of time that it took to sort out the bursary so that he could get money, he had already been starving [and without accommodation] for three days,” Stephens said. He added that the student eventually received his funding and accommodation placement, but not without being sent from one administrative department to the next. Luke Waltham, the Chairperson of Stellenbosch Chapter of the United
Nations Association of South Africa (UNASA) and member of the People’s Movement (PM), acknowledged the issue and said that homeless students have nowhere to go mainly due to a delay in funding. The PM is a student organisation, not affiliated with Stellenbosch University (SU), formed by students after the shuttle bus protest that took place earlier this year. According to Waltham, one of the PM’s objectives is to place bursary students in accommodation faster, and find housing for homeless students. “We were made aware of this in February when some of our members were walking through Farga, and there were students sleeping there – mainly post graduate students who don’t have bursaries or their NSFAS or funding has not been approved. They didn’t
have access to accommodation, they didn’t have access to food, and we realised that this was a major problem,” Waltham explained. “Since we have started the network, we have been able to get over 20 students into accommodation,” Waltham said. The PM has allegedly worked alongside the SRC to tackle this campus-wide problem, but Waltham wishes to collaborate with other organisations as well, like Move4Food and Maties Connect to help these students get food and assist in relieving the campus food shortage. “We can’t sleep comfortably in our own beds at night while there are students literally going hungry and hav[ing] to sleep in a computer lab,” Waltham concluded. Johan van Rooyen, the IT Manag-
20 Leerlingrekenmeesters bereik uitsonderlike mylpaal
Die Stellenbosch firma, LDP Geoktrooieerde Rekenmeesters, Ouditeure en Besigheidkonsultante het op Donderdagaand 4 April erkenning aan hul suksesvolle klerke gegee.
LDP vier saam met die 20 nuut-gekwalifiseerdes die bereik van ‘n uitsonderlike mylpaal. Hul betree die mark as Professionele Rekenmeesters – PR(SA)/PA(SA) en Geoktrooieerde Rekenmeesters GR(SA)/CA(SA). As opleidingskantoor lewer LDP professioneel gekwalifiseerde rekenkundiges aan verskeie industrieë sedert 1993 Van links agter: Juan van Schalkwyk, Conrad de Lange, JC Beukes, Janno Smit, Marinel Bouwer, Michael Crossman, Marike Wibbelink. Van links voor: Viljoen Roux, Oscar Whacha, Anja Kotzé, Danielle Pieterse, Bianca de Vries, Tracey de Wet, Lize-Marie Fourie, Louise Muller. Afwesig: Carla Norval, Tiaan Jacobs, Samantha February, Lee-Ann Pienaar, Bernard Nel.
er of the Faculty of Economic Management Sciences, said that he knows about the students who sleep in Farga, but said that Farga Management does not actively police the situation. “When we detect that it’s happening, we follow procedure and refer to campus security, who investigates and decides on which procedure to follow. Sometimes it ends in disciplinary action.” Van Rooyen highlighted the security risk of sleeping in computer labs. “Our major concern is that people [can] give access with their cards to unidentified persons and that’s a real risk,” van Rooyen said. “It’s a morality issue as well. Your student card is your identity. You’re allowing somebody else to misuse your identity,” van Rooyen warned.