​From Cecil the lion to South African tuition

In recent weeks, thousands of South African college students protested across the country against the since-frozen tuition hikes of up to 10 percent in the country's university system. The protests were the largest organization of student activists since the 1976 Soweto uprisings against the imposition of Afrikaans as the local school language. Today, students rally against institutionalized exclusionary practices of their country’s higher education system. The hikes exacerbated the racial and income inequality that have persisted since theend of formal apartheid in 1994 by pricing many lower-class individuals out of the education widely considered key to economic mobility. Students continue to protest because it remains to be seen whether the resolution will lead to a long-term solution in which costs actually fall to more accessible levels. While South African students protest, the international community and other college students look on with varying levels of support and concern.

Since it began to position itself as an intentionally global university, Duke has created DukeEngage, DukeImmerse and other programs to familiarize students with the African continent and South Africa in particular. The program connections to South Africa prompt us to question the lack of student energy on these structural issues and further highlights opportunities for students to go beyond hashtag activism. Students taking issue with rising education costs is nothing new. One needs only to take the example of Duke where tuition costs have steadily risen over the years and the burden of student loans placed on students and their families has increased. American students ought to be strongly in solidarity with the South African protesters. The conflict points to a failure on our part to recognize college affordability and the effects of its cost as a structural issue. Moreover, this issue presents the difference between life and death for some South Africans as the opportunity to escape a debilitating poverty cycle was pulled away from poorer students.

Indeed, our attention here speaks to a bigger issue of utter hypocrisy. Our short attention spans and affinity for glamorous causes fundamentally undermine our engagement with the developing world. To fundamentally change the lives of others requires greater effort and sacrifice than needed to rally in support of causes célèbres like the death of Cecil the lion. One Zimbabwean said, “[W]e have water shortages, no electricity, and no jobs … I saw Cecil once when I visited the game park. I will probably miss him.” Trendy youth culture is liable to support causes with little congruence to the aspirations of citizens, though rallying for both causes need not be mutually exclusive given due consideration of the issues. Moreover, our attention shifts much too readily with the news cycle’s volatility. Think #BringBackOurGirls. Think #Kony2012. For a truly sustained approach to international issues we must readily grapple with the complexities of the issues that push us out of our comfort zones.

As students at an elite university, we are uniquely positioned to do something more than tweet about the injustices like those in South Africa, as those who organized Sunday's solidarity march did. Solidarity with a movement means committing to understanding the persistent racial disparities and the legacy of apartheid that have been central to the #feesmustfall movement. The violent police response to the protests was clearly reminiscent of the apartheid era and gave us a glimpse into the very issues of global racism and systemic oppression that linger in the country. As America battles with institutionalized racism in its own ways and headlines, we are further challenged to put our issues into the global perspective.