White students 'more racist'

2008-08-01 08:10

Herman Scholtz

Bloemfontein - White students at the University of the Free State (UFS) are especially racist, according to a study done by the university's Centre for Student Development and Success.

A total of 800 first-year students who live in residences, or 56% of them, were questioned at the beginning of the academic year about their feelings towards other races.

The findings of the study were published in the July issue of PsyTalk, a magazine published by the Psychological Society of South Africa.

Researchers Dr Francois Strydom and Melody Mentz state in the article that the study must be interpreted within the context of two important factors.

First: "The research was done before the Reitz video was publicised, which means that the extreme attitudes and opinions could not have been influenced by the controversial events."

The UFS made waves worldwide when a video, which had been recorded in the Reitz men's residence, was leaked.

The video shows older, black, female cleaners being humiliated by white students from the Reitz residence during a "pretend initiation".

Products of their societies

Second, the researches point out that 80% of the students that had taken part in the study had been in racially mixed schools.

University of the Witwatersrand honorary professor of education Jonathan Jansen said these findings should not surprise anyone.

"All universities struggle with integration," he said. "It might be a bit worse in the Free State because the formal integration process took so long and the area that the university serves is relatively isolated."

He does not believe that white students are inherently racist, but are the products of their societies.

"They carry with them the bitter knowledge of the injustice of the past. We don't blame them for the sins of their forefathers."

Jansen added that extreme attitudes may have become even worse since the Reitz video was publicised.

Research will be followed up

Strydom told Beeld on Thursday that the research would be followed up to determine whether the students' attitudes changed during the course of their studies.

UFS spokesperson Lacea Loader said university management had taken note of the findings and would use them in their transformation process.

Vice-Rector: Student Affairs, Dr Ezekiel Moraka, said he regarded the research as crucial. "That is why we appointed an agency to help us with hostel integration. These findings will also be made available to them."

According to the study:

Black students identified white students as the group with the highest status

White students identified themselves as the group with the highest status

White male students were more racist than white female students.

- Beeld