Rethinking Student Activism: Student Governance Perspectives

In Chaps. 1 and 2 , formal student representation has been discussed and its place and role in the struggle for democracy and justice in HE. However, their role has been questioned with the emergency of social media and specifically during the #Fallist movement. In this chapter, I present the voices of students who are part of the student governance structure (SRC). Because the SRC is autonomous and comprises elected representatives of the community, it represents the interests of the student community and defending the interests of students (Klemenčič et al. 2016), with a mandate to represent students in negotiations and interactions with university management. Hence it is the highest student representative body in respect of student matters of common interest and the only formally recognised student body that represents the interests of the students in terms of the provisions of the South African Higher Education Act (1997). Members of the student governing body provided an officially recognised student perspective and connected that perspective with that of organisers and student-participants. The chapter presents the SRC’s understandings of activism and social media activism as efforts to promote or intervene in social, political, economic, cultural and environmental reform with the desire to achieve transformational change at the university. From a student governance perspective, social media plays a role in mobilising students, in advancing activist activities, but on its own, it is not enough, and face-to-face mobilisation remains crucial. According to members of the SRC, face-to-face activism remains crucial both in mobilising students, and in engaging with university leadership. Thus, the chapter argues that social media plays a role, but we should be careful not to inflate its importance from a student governance perspective.