I came across an article the other day about a University of Cape Town (UCT) african american Professor named Elelwani Ramugondo. She has worked at UCT since 1998. She is taking the university to court for hiring a “less qualified” white profesor as their new deputy vice-chancellor for teaching and learning. Ramugondo is supported by the university’s Black Academic Caucus (BAC), which claims the institution disregarded all rules when appointing Professor Lis Lange who is white. Ramugondo told City Press on Friday she was overlooked because of institutional racism at UCT. “I know many casualties to UCT’s institutional racism. I have chosen to stay because I believe that if we confront the problem honestly at UCT, which is a public university that is held in very high regard, it will bode well for all South Africans.”
I found this article particularly interesting due to some of the discussions we had in class. This article demonstrates how racism can still be found in modern institutions. It will be interesting to see what the court finds on whether the racial claims are true. Also if found true what punishment will be forced upon the university and the committee that demonstrated the racism.