South African University Drops Charges Against Students Who Made Inflammatory Video

The new rector of South Africa’s University of the Free State, where four white Afrikaans students sparked an international outcry last year with the making of a racially inflammatory video involving the black cleaning staff of their residence hall, announced last week that the university would drop charges against the students in the name of reconciliation, Agence France-Presse reported. While South Africa’s ruling African National Congress criticized the move, the rector, Jonathan Jansen, who is a widely respected black academician, said the university had a deeply rooted culture of racial intolerance and needed to take responsibility for failing to foster integration, the BBC reported. The students still face criminal charges in a trial expected to begin this month, while the workers will be compensated by the university for the trauma they suffered, Mr. Jansen said.