The segregation enforced during apartheid has not only ensured widely disparate South African university landscapes, but also framed constructions of activism in historical discourses of racial disenfranchisement and marginalisation. As a result, activism is implicitly and explicitly associated with disadvantaged universities; with black students; and specifically directed at an apartheid government. If there were expectations – certainly on the side of government – that the transition to a democratic state would allay student activism, this was not the case. Instead, student activism – still manifested in a critical mass of black students – has not only intensified but has degenerated into disturbing displays of destruction and violence. The recent spate of student protests, which centred on matters of access, free education and decolonisation, and more recently, gender-based violence, has provoked defensive, and at times, antagonistic and discouraging responses from universities – placing students firmly in an opposing discourse. Seemingly, while the political climate has shifted, universities have yet to reconceptualise their institutional, academic and spatial environments into contexts conducive to open and mutual deliberation. Current impressions from university responses suggest that activism, as symbolised through student protests, is out of place in democratic spaces. In considering the relational positioning of universities to activism and, hence, to students, the interest of this article resides, firstly, in how notions of activism might be reimagined within democratic contexts and, secondly, in how universities might reposition themselves from being sites of activism, to being advocates of social, economic and ethical reform.

种族隔离期间实行的隔离不仅确保了南非大学环境的广泛差异，而且在种族剥夺权利和边缘化的历史论述中构筑了激进主义的构想。结果，行动主义与处境不利的大学之间存在着隐性和显性的联系。与黑人学生 特别是针对种族隔离政府。如果有人期望-当然是在政府方面-过渡到民主国家会减轻学生的积极性，事实并非如此。取而代之的是，学生行动主义-仍然表现在一定数量的黑人学生中-不仅加剧了，而且退化成令人不安的破坏和暴力表现。最近发生了一系列的学生抗议活动，主要集中在交通，免费教育和非殖民化方面，最近，基于性别的暴力激起了大学的防御性，有时甚至是敌对的和令人沮丧的反应，这使学生坚定地处于对立的话语中。看起来，尽管政治气氛发生了变化，但大学尚未将其制度，学术和空间环境重新概念化，从而有利于开放和相互审议。大学反应的当前印象表明，通过学生抗议活动象征的激进主义在民主空间中是不合适的。在考虑大学与行动主义以及因此对学生的关系定位时，本文的兴趣在于，首先在于如何在民主语境下重新构想行动主义的概念，其次，在于大学如何将自己重新定位为大学的所在地。行动主义