First recipient of the Dean’s Award next Friday

On Friday, 1 July, at the Cathedral, in the context of Festival Choral Evensong, we shall for the first time be presenting the Dean’s Award – established earlier this year to acknowledge any individual, not necessarily a member of the cathedral or the Anglican Church, who has made a significant contribution to the life of the Grahamstown community. The recipient for 2016, and the first ever to receive the award, is the Vice Chancellor of Rhodes University, Dr Sizwe Mabizela. Everyone is warmly invited to attend the service.

The award is being given at a challenging time for the university in the light of the recent protests on campus against rape and rape culture. Led by Mabizela, the university has been very clear in its rejection of all forms of sexual assault and harassment, and is doing all it can to have policies and support systems in place to deal with such incidents, and to engage with the broader culture.

At the same time, the VC and the university leadership has had to ensure that everyone’s rights, and safety, are protected. We support the efforts that are being made to do so. The Dean’s Award is one way to acknowledge this, to publicly affirm the VC and to thank him for his personal example and his valuesbased, ethical leadership.

We wish to acknowledge and affirm all at the university – the vice chancellor, university leadership, academic staff, students, workers – who are deeply engaged in what has been happening, who carry the burdens of the institution, and who continue to share in the pain and struggle of these times. We are all wounded healers.

It is incumbent on us all, in times of strife and conflict, to find a creative and life-giving way forward; to build and rebuild relationships of trust and openness; to continue to form a university and a community that is a flagship and example for others, in the way that we defend and protect the vulnerable, care for the wounded; listen to one another; a community that is a place of belonging; and a community of discovery, life, joy and hope.

The Very Reverend Andrew Hunter Dean of Grahamstown Cathedral of St Michael & St George