Source: Getty
Kicked into touch: sporting boycott may have had the biggest impact on apartheid
As the world reflects on the life of Nelson Mandela, many scholars have been recalling the impact of the apartheid system (and the campaign against it) on universities in South Africa, the UK and the wider world.
Mary Stuart, vice-chancellor of the University of Lincoln, left South Africa in 1981 after witnessing the effects of anti-apartheid riots while she attended drama school in Cape Town in the late 1970s.
鈥淭he medical students set up clinics to help people from the townships who had been injured by the police and we helped where we could,鈥 she recalled. 鈥淚t was a baptism of fire and changed the way I聽see the world.鈥
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She added: 鈥淚 did leave because I did not believe apartheid would ever end and I did not think white people could do anything positive in South Africa: they were the oppressors, even if they did not believe in apartheid.
鈥淥f course, I was proved wrong and when Mandela was released I聽danced with my husband and British-born children in front of the television.鈥
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Universities were often vocal in the campaign against apartheid and many scholars boycotted institutions in South Africa, refusing to travel there, invite the country鈥檚 scholars to the UK or publish their papers.
Professor Stuart said their efforts were 鈥渋mportant in that they reminded the Nationalist government that the world did not agree with apartheid鈥.
But she argued that the sporting boycott 鈥 which excluded South Africa from the Rugby World Cup in 1987 and 1991 (the post-apartheid country won it in 1995) 鈥 had more impact on 鈥渟ports mad鈥 South Africans.
Chris Brink, vice-chancellor of Newcastle University, who became head of mathematics at the University of Cape Town after Mr聽Mandela was freed, concurred.
鈥淎n academic boycott isn鈥檛 going to be at the top of your worries鈥 鈥 the sporting boycott 鈥渄efinitely鈥 had more impact, he said.
To some extent, it suited the apartheid government that the country鈥檚 Afrikaans-speaking universities remained 鈥渋nsular鈥, he said 鈥 an insularity that partly explained the regime鈥檚 longevity.
A journal article released in 1995 that surveyed South African scholars on the impact of the boycott concluded that it had proved an 鈥渋rritant or inconvenience rather than a significant barrier to scholarly progress鈥.
鈥淭he Academic Boycott of South Africa: Symbolic Gesture or Effective Agent of Change?鈥 in the journal Perspectives on the Professions found that 57 per cent of respondents said they had been affected by it.
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Even though the impact of聽the academic boycott remains unclear, Professor Brink added that scholarly anti-apartheid campaigners should take 鈥渃redit and consolation鈥 from their work.
鈥淢any people feel proud and like to think they made a contribution. Overall that鈥檚 right,鈥 he said.
david.matthews@tsleducation.com
Capital candidate: one election Mandela didn鈥檛 win
Perhaps the best-known link between Nelson Mandela and the UK academy is his attempt to study for a University of London law degree during his long imprisonment.
He passed the intermediate examinations in 1963 but was seemingly thwarted by his jailors in completing the degree. The People鈥檚 University 1858-2008, a book marking the 150th anniversary of the university鈥檚 external degree system, describes how some of the necessary books were banned and Mr Mandela鈥檚 study privileges revoked.
But there is a lesser-known connection between Mr Mandela and the university: in 1981 he was one of three candidates for chancellor, a聽position elected by the institution鈥檚 graduates.
In the event he finished behind not only the winner, Princess Anne (who received 57.5 per cent of the vote), but also another apparent anti-Establishment candidate, Jack Jones, former general secretary of the Transport and General Workers鈥 Union.
Lord Annan, the University of London鈥檚 vice-chancellor at the time, welcomed Princess Anne鈥檚 election and said that the result 鈥渟hows where the heart of the university lies鈥, according to an archived edition of聽罢丑别听罢颈尘别蝉.
Yet most students had backed Mr聽Mandela, according to Anna Clarke, then president of the university student union, the paper also reported.
According to another Times report, Mr Mandela鈥檚 nomination had apparently been approved by his lawyer, and one of those who had put him forward was Trevor Phillips, at that time president of the National Union of Students, who went on to become chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
The election prompted a flurry of letters to 罢丑别听罢颈尘别蝉, some complaining that the university had given too little time to find alternative candidates to Princess Anne.
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A day before the election, the university鈥檚 convocation voted that its standing committee had acted with 鈥渦nseemly and unbecoming haste鈥 in summoning the meeting to elect the chancellor.
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