Varsity may rethink

This comes amid concerns about racist and exclusionary practices at the university. Earlier this year, there were reports that during an initiation ceremony, first-year students were compelled to perform a "Heil Pukke" salute, a gesture reminiscent of the Nazi salute.

This prompted an independent investigation by academics that has recommended, among other things, that the university totally ban all initiation practices in favour of sanctioned orientation programmes. The university was also advised to review aspects of language policy that could inhibit integration and institutional cohesion, and to rethink the autonomy given to its campuses.

North-West University (NWU) extends across two provinces, Gauteng and the North West, following a 2004 merger between two universities: the former University of NorthWest, with a primarily black student base, and the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, whose students were largely white.

Speaking at a briefing yesterday, Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande said the team that undertook the investigation had faced a lack of cooperation.

"It appears to be an honest introspection ... it is particularly refreshing that there is tacit acknowledgement that the NWU institutional model is problematic and appears to have been engineered to foster a largely monocultural environment that appears to be designed for mainly white Afrikaners on the Potchefstroom campus," he said.

This meant that students who were not from certain Afrikaans feeder schools immediately faced alienation, he said. "The university should foster a culture on all campuses that includes Afrikaans in an open and inclusive manner."

Nzimande's comments come in the week that two white students at the University of Stellenbosch apologised after an outcry over them painting themselves black and dressing as Serena and Venus Williams.

AfriForum Youth spokesman Henk Maree said the group was concerned the recommendations for NWU would mean that changes on campuses were forced on students, and groups of students were blamed rather than culpable individuals.