Physics Comment Magazine March 2018 Issue Physics Comment March 2018_v1.3 | Page 6

News from South Africa
President’s Corner: Message from Professor Patrick Woudt on behalf of the
Council of SAIP
The South African Institute of
Physics is guided in all of its
actions by the goals and values
outlined in its constitution, and
the code of conduct stipulated in
the by-laws. It is worth repeating
these goals as stated in the SAIP
constitution, namely 1)
to
promote
and
recognise
excellence in Physics in all its
forms, 2) to encourage greater
collaboration
amongst
physicists, and 3) to enhance
public awareness of issues
relating to Physics and (to
enhance) a positive image of
physicists.
In pursuing these goals our
activities are founded on the
following values: excellence,
transparency,
responsiveness,
relevance, participation, ethics
and to be intellectually free.
At its 2016 Annual General
Meeting(AGM), the
SAIP
Council was asked by one of its
members if the University of
Johannesburg
(UJ)
was
reintroducing apartheid by
splitting physics into a pure and
applied physics streams, and was
asked why the council was not
interfering in this matter.
The matter was raised again by
the same member at the 2017
AGM in the discussion of the
2016 AGM minutes.
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This provocative comment did
not arise from within UJ, and
no supporting arguments were
ever given to council to
substantiate this claim. The
members of the UJ Physics
Department unanimously reject
the negative comment made at
the AGM, and any of the
implications it carried.
SAIP has a strict policy of non-
interference
in
internal
university matters. The Council
of the South African Institute of
Physics has broadly consulted
on this matter, and publicly
dissociates itself from the
comments made by its member
at the 2016 and 2017 AGMs.
We regret that these unfounded
comments could have led to a
lingering negative impression.
The SAIP respects and supports
academic freedom and freedom
of expression, yet we request
that those expressions are
respectful to the members of
our community. Here we are
clearly guided by our code of
conduct.
The South African Institute of
Physics aims to introduce a
code of conduct for conferences
at its next annual conference in
2018.
This is
in
line
with
international practices in the
physics community, driven by
the International Union of Pure
and Applied Physics and the
International
Astronomical
Union. The ambition of such a
code of conduct is to create an
environment at conferences
conducive to professional
scientific engagements and free
of harassment of any kind.