Alumni demand action

DEAR SIR — We write to you as alumni of the University of the Witwatersrand. At the time that we were students, although some years apart, the university played an important role as a determined and unafraid opponent of apartheid.

Its stance attracted international regard and, together with other English-language universities, it kept alive the ideals of academic freedom, tolerance and multiracialism.

We are also privileged to be alumni of this great university because our father IA Maisels QC, an outstanding defender of human rights in his own right, was an alumnus of the university, a member of council and holder of an honorary doctorate in laws conferred by Wits.

The outrage perpetrated by some students who recently disrupted a private concert given by an Israeli pianist is an affront to the traditions of the university. Indeed, those who seek now to discredit our liberal tradition should know that it is the same liberal tradition that allows them the voice of dissent, protest and peaceful assembly.

Understand this, too: this was not a confrontation between Muslim students and Jewish students. This was simply an affront engineered by yahoos against a polity and achievement they cannot understand.

The university has undertaken to discipline these students.

Funding given to the university from Wits alumni both here and abroad will be severely curtailed unless the university authorities act with full transparency in this matter.

We will await the outcome of the disciplinary proceedings.