Uncle Dick stood at the front line of the Struggle
Respected UWC rector Van der Ross was inspired by ‘life of the mind’
I feel truly honoured to say what an exceptional human being he was.
Affectionately known as Uncle Dick to many, he was not only a supremely avuncular figure on and off the campus, he was a leader, gentleman and friend par excellence, courageous, and principled to a fault.
Unlike many university leaders who no longer distinguish between right and wrong, especially in times of turmoil, Prof van der Ross never lost his moral compass despite the tumultuous 70s and early 80s. The Soweto Uprising and political upheavals that followed were not easy to navigate.
Between the stormy waters of a recalcitrant apartheid state and militant students, Vice-Chancellor Van der Ross acquitted himself with dignity and aplomb, using reason to argue that our methods of protest sometimes weakened our cause and were often counter-productive.
Rather than placate or appease students, he put himself on the front line of the Struggle as mediator, prepared to negotiate head-on with the apartheid government about the historical challenges facing the country. He was an active citizen, he was one of us, readily inserting himself as a participant into the mess of liberation, prioritising reason above anger to get his point across.
Severely criticised by the increasingly militant factions of the student leadership, Van der Ross pointed out that regardless of the criticisms against him, UWC should be judged by the quality of the graduates who emerged from the institution. That, after all, is what a university is about.
He argued that a university is measured by the quality of its teachers and graduates. Today, UWC boasts alumni from across the country, and they include the likes of our very own vice-chancellor today, Prof Tyrone Pretorius, the deceased Prof Jakes Gerwel, and many other notables such as professors Tony (deceased) and Eltie Links, Ikey van der Rheede, Hein Willemse, Cheryl Potgieter, Leila Patel, Yvonne Muthien, Charlyn Dyers, Edna van Harte, Llewellyn McMasters, Adv Taswell Papier and a whole host of others found in leadership positions all over the country.
Under Uncle Dick’s leadership, UWC gave us voice, imbued us with leadership qualities, to take on the Struggle against apartheid with conviction, that liberation before education was not the answer. To him, education meant liberation from the shackles of oppression.
A historian at heart, he never ceased his search for the truth.
For many years, I would see him emerge from the Roeland Street archives on my way home. He never stopped writing despite his age and questions of ethnicity, the origins of street names and places where he grew up in the Constantia area, and the effects of the Group Areas Act had on the lives of people and communities were uppermost in his writings.
Curious about the origins of the “Marta Saal” adjacent to Battswood Training College, where Uncle Dick honed his skills as educator, led to the publication of the Black Countess, the story of the daughter of the first freed slave who attended Battswood and after whom the hall was named. That is how he restored unknown figures to their rightful place in history.
The “life of the mind” turned him on as educator, and that sustained him until his death. Uncle Dick impressed upon us that exercising “the life of the mind” is what universities are about first and foremost. In honouring him, let us never forget that. I thank destiny for sending such a boss, leader, and friend my way, and shall miss Uncle Dick on the SA landscape enormously.