UTMITI NOfES
     The period from. July to December, 1980 seemed, as usual, a tough,
rough-turning short half-year from the point of view of the new intellectual as well
as physical e~ters          of the University'~ fIrst and second terms, against which
freshmen (indeed alLt>thers. too) mea,sure theinselves on the nonnative scale of
moral courage perseverance and the art of 'stop worrying and begin fIghting' in
academics. Yet it was a gratifying second half of the year, puffed up, on the. high
tide, with a justified pride reminillcent of the University!s ten years of growth as a
national highest institution of learning, .and, on the low tide, emptied of all
presumptiOn by its other ordinary-life events that characterize any intellectually
sobre institution worthy of name. We begin here with the unique high tide of the
University's pride of history.
      The UniversIty of Oar es SaIaa:m celebrated the tenth anniversary of her
 inception on 29th August, the date ten years previous she was weaned by mother
 University of East Africa, defunct thereafter. The celebrations, which ran on fora
 week from 23rd to 29th, were characterized by happy. activities ranging from
 jamboree-type of mass meetings and rallies to serious intellectually igniting seminars
 as well as cultural festivities and theatrIcal performances, all intended to illuminate
 the scholarly achievement and practical stature which have continued to tnake this
 national institution a hybrid of high-level intellectualization and grass-roots-Ievel
 practice. It is worth recording that all the University's facufiies and institutes
 contributed to making the event a success .
     . On its part, the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences played a key role in planning
  for the celebrations and, more specifically, sponsored a number of micro-activities
  that brought out University institution into public .limelight. Quite apart from
  thematic plays and recitals, the Faculty sponsored or else participated in staging
  broad-based seminars on the following themes:
  (a) The University and Society: The idea of an African University.
  (b) The development of higber education in Tanzania.
  (c) The University and the training of scientifIc, technical and managerial cadres.
  (d) Manpower planning, training, recruitment, allocation and utilization.
  (e) The 'MusomaResolutions' and higher education in Tanzania.
  (f) The University and 'Ujamaa' ideolog)'.
  (g) Student politics-at the University of Oar es Salaam.
 (h) The University and the development of national culture.
       Further, the Faculty's departments and bureaux did each display for public
 viewers their cherished principal works, innovations, publications and other
 productions, all which not only reflected the dynamism of the departments and the
 University in general but also justified the University's remotely-appreciated claim
 of an important share of contribution to the nation's'problem-solving     process. That
 University academicians and intellectuals in general "don't produce" or "just
 intellectualize and don't come to grips with real problems" as the general public has'
 often been made to think, was at least partly dispelled by the personal observations
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                                                                 Utafiti-Vol. 5 No.2 December 1980
 of the "open~y"        visitors or by their testimonies after seeing, hearing .or touching
 the reality of these momentous days.
 Of striking interest to the Q.\ltsiders as well as the insiders of University Hill waS the
 address delivered by the Chancellor, whois also the country's President; .Mwalimu
Julius Nyerere. The address, while distinctively congratulatory, did nevertheless
inject into the distilling ears of a carefully absorbing audience a low-geared
 "sweet-sour" criticism well cushioned in a battery of questions in which he
wondered whether the University had managed to address itself to the goals for
which it was established in 1970 - those of scholarship, service and productivity;
whether it had ever thought of reducing its presently rising cOsts; whether it could,
not itself s}X)ltSOreven mote critically constructive ertdeavours to place society on a
running course rather than on a merely walking trail.
      We started building (this University) in a certmn way; we have continuec:l
      expanding in the same way. Do we still think we should be doing that? And is
      there really any other way of expanding the University?                   "
     What worries me more than the capit~ expenditure is the recurrent cost of the
     University .... Total annual expenditure on the University in fact now amounts"
     to 31 per cent of the total budget of the Ministry of National Education ... Is
     this Ii socialist allocation of resourCes? Is it by any means a just allocation of
     resources?
     And finally there" is the question of self-reliance ... Can we say that the
     University is playing a vanguard role in the question of education for
     self-reliance? And since (in the Chancellor's own words) the answer is clearly in
     the negative, should not the University, like the rest of us, take a critical look at
     itself?
    The speech, marking the climax of the week-long jubilation, highlighted a
number of aching touch-points which, if not given wider and free discussion forums,
could end in unhappy clots of sceptical flatter and internal disillusion in view of the
counterfacilitative environment academics here live in. Luckily, the Chancellor
himself explicitly induced the audience and the University community itself to think
about the conditions. of the University - not quietly and timidly, one would
suppose. And, characteristically, he ended his seasoned address "as I began. I
congratulate the University and its members for all that has been achieved; I
challenge them to new efforts; and I express my very good wishes to the University
of Dar es Salaam for the coming years."
     Meanwhile, the varsity intellectual indUstry continued to grind its grain through
its normal mills of research, classroom teaching and public service and consultancy.
As usual, the Faculty's departments and bureaux hosted or sponsored seminars and
workshops in their usual spirit of exchanging experiences and ideas, disseminating
information and contributing to the repertoire of knowledge. Special mention is to
be'made of the History Department, the Education Department and the Economic
Research Bureau with regard to a concrete schedule of consistent and regular weekly
seminars for which pertinent papers are available from relevant departmental
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m.tIdNots
coordinators upon request. Also, worthy of note were ~o larger-scale meetings,
namely the "Data~ysis       Strategy" workshop, held from 10th-17th December in
Oar es Salaam, sponsored by the Eastern African Univenities "Research Project
(EAURP), and the "Population Education and Curriculum Oumges" workshop,
held from 15th to 20th December in Arusha, sponsored by the Unite4 Nations Fund
for Population Activities (UNFP A).
    As regards staff movements, a nuInber of se:niormembers of the acaderi1iC staff
- one each from Geography, Political Science, Education, History and Sociol(8)T
- left the campus for a year's sabbatical leave during wmcl! they had plans to-
preoccupy themselves with scholarly activities away from rciufine: research report
compilation, book writing, perhaps guest lectures and seminars. This arrangemant,
as asSureaby the University Senate and Council, is geing to continue to eQually
benefit all members of staff in their turns ..
    Apart from this aspect of staff movement, the period   under review saw quite a
few new entrants into University service in various positions of teaching/research
appointments. It also witnessed short sUtff business trips inside and outside the
country for conferences, seminars, workshops, study .tours and various forms of
consultation.
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