Page 5 - Professorial Lecture - Professor P van Rooyen

3. Discussion:

The minutes of the Senate meeting of the 5 November 2014 reported the
th
Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of Namibia, Prof Osmund
Mwandemele, during his closing remarks, had the following to say: “He
urged all staff members to treat students in a respectful and acceptable
manner. He said that government entrusted students to the university to be
moulded into respectful citizens. He wished all staff a peaceful festive
season.”

Different ideas and perceptions of the university have been dominant at
different times. Three versions are relevant for our discussion:

 a community of scholars
 a political instrument
 a service-directed enterprise

Each of these represent a different conception of valid stakeholder
influence, legitimate governance instruments and arrangements, central
organizing principles.

1. The ‘community of scholars’ vision is guided by a notion of the university as
self-regulating institution founded on a reason for existence, independent
from the goals of the state or the society. The virtually unlimited autonomy
of the universities is legitimized with reference to the ‘primus inter pares’
(best among equals) principle, which also forms the foundation of the
university governance structure. Socrates, in Plato’s Republic, argued for
professionalism. In his hypothetical ideal State, “one man does one job and
does not play…a multiplicity of roles”.

Who cares about academic freedom? What marks the academic out for such
special consideration? On what basis can we assert rights and freedoms that
are unavailable to other professions or citizens? Is the academic’s work
properly oriented towards more general freedoms?

3 |