Indian professor at South African university resigns after furore over ‘racist’ comment

JOHANNESBURG: An Indian professor on Friday resigned as head of the Sociology Department at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) here in the wake of a controversy about remarks made by her which were considered to be "racist". The university is now reportedly also considering suspending Professor Srila Roy as a disciplinary process gets underway.

The controversy was sparked by a social media post by Roy on February 21 that read: "South Africans have little ambition, are complacent and have a poor ethic."

She was reacting to a discussion on social media about foreign nationals at South African universities after the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Higher Education expressed concern about the presence of 7.7 per cent foreign nationals at these universities.

The post was subsequently deleted, but the same committee, as well as the South African Sociological Association (SASA) and colleagues at her own university were among the first to react to it. "Discriminatory and degrading attitudes have no place in post-school education or in our society," said the chairperson of the Portfolio Committee, Tebogo Letsie.

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Wits University condemns professor's remark

"The Department of Sociology at Wits University condemns in the strongest manner the offensive, racist and indefensible tweet made. The intensity of the responses to the tweet reflects the visceral pain it has caused, especially to Black South Africans. We reject the tweet and its sentiment outright and unconditionally," a statement from the department said.

"The personal sentiments expressed in Professor Roy's tweet stand in direct contrast to the values of the sociology department, which are built on an ethical and political commitment to care, collegiality, trust, respect, accountability, integrity, anti-racism, anti-sexism, and anti-classism.

"We note and reject the damaging presumption of division between South Africans and others ('foreigners') that is implied in the tweet and which serves to reproduce polarisation of our society. We reassert our long-standing and ongoing efforts to build a public African University that promotes human flourishing, whilst rejecting racism, xenophobia, sexism, classism, and all other forms of discrimination," it added.

SASA said Roy's remarks violated the commitment to promote cooperation at the local, national, regional and international levels among persons engaged in the study of society and have brought the discipline, academia and the country into disrepute.

"We have noted her retraction without genuine apology on X and see it as lacking rigour, emotion and cause, and as an attempt at face-saving which has rightfully been seen with contempt by the South African academic community and beyond," SASA said. The apology was also subsequently deleted. Professor Roy could not be reached for comment. The university said that due processes would be followed.