My tenure as DVC coincided with the years during which student activism at the English-language universities was at its most intense.

With all the furore over the Quota Bill (see Chapter 8), there was surprisingly little student activism in relation to the referendum of white voters called at the end of March 1983 and scheduled for 2 November of that year, to approve the new constitution which would establish a tricameral parliament. White voters were asked to accept the Constitution Act and two-thirds of them did. Coloured and Indian opinion was tested, not by referenda but by two separate general elections in which there were massive abstentions. Black African opinion was not tested at all.

Although anger about the new constitution spilled over onto the campus and the issue was extensively debated, the debates were generally peaceful. There was some support for the constitution from members of the University who regarded the proposals as ‘a step in the right direction’. The Chairman of Council, Nico Stutterheim, and a senior member, Charles Skeen, caused a stir when they signed a newspaper advertisement in which a group of prominent business people advocated a ‘yes’ vote. Fortunately, this was not picked up by the students. At a mass meeting in the Great Hall on 2 June, Dr Allan Boesak, President of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, said the proposals endorsed apartheid. The new constitution would fail to ‘represent a historical moment to begin anew … and correct the mistakes of the past … We who struggle for human rights have no option but to reject these constitutional proposals, not only for the sake of honesty but for our own sakes as human beings.’

While overt student activism during 1984, the first year of open admissions, was relatively subdued, there was an increase in tension on campus, particularly between the BSS and the SMA. The BSS was vigorous in establishing structures to represent black student interests. Working with the SRC they set about trying to ‘conscientise’ black and white students as well as the staff, about the disabilities suffered by black South Africans and the need for the University to take an uncompromising anti-apartheid stand.