Never a good idea when the university president calls riot police in on student demonstrators. The general public does not like watching their kids, or their neighbor's kids, get hit in the face by cops. A simple political lesson for a democratic society. Surely they teach this in academic presidency 101?
If you are like me, you are just getting up to speed on the student strikes in Puerto Rico. Maybe you want to read a non-radicalized, recent NY Times article just to get oriented, so check out http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/18/education/18puertorico.html?pagewanted=1
The key issue at the moment is the government's budget shortfall, which has led the university to increase what it charges students. The fees at the University of Puerto Rico are much lower than at mainland American universities, in fact they are much closer to what European students pay. The structure of university education on the island is different from many other US territories and states. It is not predicated upon the assumption that every family must fend for itself, but instead there seems to be a societal commitment to providing higher education for Puerto Rican students. At least, that is the larger issue behind the protests.
By announcing that it was doubling the amount to $800, the university was undertaking a move that German universities have tried only to be faced with student strikes as well. The key difference is that 800 Euros does not price German students out of an education, whereas in Puerto Rico, where up to 75% of students qualify for Pell grants, the fee increases would have been prohibitively high. Student government leaders claimed that 10,000 out of the systems 65,000 students would have been unable to pay the increase.
Puerto Rico's students responded like Europeans: they went on strike, shut down the university.
Things got harsh when the university brought riot police in to remove the students who were blocking buildings and gates. Tear gas, beaten students, 18 arrests, rough videos on Youtube turned the standoff into a harsh confrontation which has now resulted in the university president's resignation.
The issues are far from resolved as the university rector investigates professors who supported the student strike and considers "pausing" programs.
As with all contemporary uprisings, Facebook is the medium with the most recent news and actions. I have to admit, that is where I first learned about the conflict. The English department of the Rio Piedras campus, University of Puerto Rico, has a Facebook page that keeps you more up to date than newspapers in New York or Los Angeles. The posts are English. Most of the news articles online are in Spanish.
This protest belongs in today's news from Wisconsin, with the California student protests, with the many European university strikes last year, and with the demonstration coming to your state soon.
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