Honorary Doctorate – UCT Faculty of Humanities Graduation Ceremony

After three honorary doctorates abroad, this one was special because it was from home. It was also ironic because I could not enter UCT as a new high school graduate despite my first class pass and was required to go to a university much further from home for those the apartheid government had designated for “Coloured” people. And it was difficult to accept because of a deep concern that UCT had lost vital ground as a truly open university because of the coverage and removal of artworks, the violence against staff and public property, and the silencing of alternative and sometimes non-black voices in the heat of the protests. Friends convinced me to use the seven-minute acceptance speech to state my position—which is reflected in this document.