It is chaos in university leadership right now. The vice-chancellor (VC) of the Vaal University of Technology has just been placed on special leave by his council; the VC of the University of Fort Hare narrowly escaped assassination for his stand on corruption; and yesterday news broke that the VC of the University of Cape Town has settled on a R12 million golden handshake to leave to the institution.

All of this happens as starry-eyed first year students start registration and orientation for the most exciting journey of their learning lives. How sad that we could not provide the incoming class of 2023 with more stable campuses and more inviting leadership. It is, however, the events at UCT that will raise eyebrows this week...