Shattering the Myth of a Post-Racial Consensus in South African Higher Education: "Rhodes Must Fall" and the Struggle for Transformation at the University of Cape Town

This article argues that the University of Cape Town's decision to downgrade the relevance of race in student admissions set off a series of events and discourses that culminated in the "Rhodes Must Fall" protest movement. While the protest movement was ostensibly about the removal of Cecil John Rhodes's statue from the grounds of the university grounds, the campaign galvanized other sectors of the Black community on campus to demand transformation of the curriculum and the hiring of Black professors. The ensuing racial fault lines among students, members of staff, and the administration debunked the notion that class mattered more than race in South African politics. This article argues for an approach that views race as a set of historical experiences that should be reflected in the curriculum and the hiring of more Black professors at UCT and other predominantly white universities.