Ex-student urges alumni to#UJBeTheSolution
A former UJ student has challenged his fellow alumni to join him in starting a rebuilding fund for the auditorium burnt down in an arson attack.
|||Johannesburg – One of the University of Johannesburg’s former students has challenged his fellow alumni to join him in starting a rebuilding fund aimed at restoring the main auditorium on the Kingsway Campus, following an arson attack a month ago.
“It is unacceptable that misguided arsonists, who destroyed our varsity’s iconic auditorium in a moment of madness, should have the last say,” said the former student, Advocate Cassie Badenhorst.
The fire-bombing which occured in May, destroyed the 1 000-seater auditorium, which had been a focal point of the university’s academic and cultural life and was also the scene of numerous graduation ceremonies over the years.
Computer laboratories, including equipment used to conduct career assessment and guidance for students and prospective students were also destroyed in the fire, bringing the estimated damage to R100-million.
“As an alumnus of significant standing within our city and our country, Adv Badenhorst is setting a tremendous example to all of us by calling on the generations of former students we are extremely proud of to join hands and give something back to the university which helped set them on the road to success and prosperity,” said UJ Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Ihron Rensburg, who welcomed Badenhorst’s initiative.
Badenhorst said: “While we fully expect the culprits to face the full force of the law for their evil deed, we should embrace the university’s call of #UJBeTheSolution. I pledge R10 000 as seed money and invite my fellow alumni to join in this effort by contributing generously towards the restoration of facilities which are essential for UJ to continue its noble task of passing on skills and knowledge to future generations of South Africans.”
Badenhorst said he was keen for as many former students of UJ and all of its forerunner institutions as possible to contribute generously to the rebuilding effort, as many had been empowered by their studies and could now afford to give something back in the interests of empowering generations of students to come, whether in their private capacities or as senior managers of companies.
Rensburg said the university strongly supported the initiative and that the role of the university was not only to pass on vocational and professional expertise, but also ethical, community oriented, and solution driven attitudes.
“UJ holds a special place in the hearts of hundreds of thousands of our alumni – from Technikon Witwatersrand, Rand Afrikaans Universiteit, Vista University and since 2005, the University of Johannesburg,” said Rensburg.
“What is wonderful is that this privately initiated appeal will catalyse our fundraising drives with the major private sector donors, foundations and the public sector in South Africa and internationally.”
Both Rensburg and Badenhorst emphasised that rebuilding the auditorium didn’t absolve the perpetrators of their criminal responsibility for the act of destruction.
African News Agency