[News] Showdown probable in Puerto Rico as student strike paralyzes university

[Anti-Imperialist News]

Ugly showdown seems probable in Puerto Rico as 
student strike paralyzes university

<http://www.nydailynews.com/authors/Juan%20Gonzalez%20-%20News>Juan 
Gonzalez - News
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/06/09/2010-06-09_ugly_showdown_seems_probable_in_puerto_rico.html

Wednesday, June 9th 2010, 4:00 AM

A showdown is looming in the student strike that 
has paralyzed all 11 campuses of the 
<http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/University+of+Puerto+Rico>University 
of Puerto Rico for more than six weeks.

Late Tuesday, protest leaders rejected a 4 p.m. 
deadline from university President José Ramón de 
la Torre to cease their campus occupations and 
end the strike, which has kept 65,000 students out of classes since April 21.

De la Torre and 
<http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Puerto+Rico>Puerto 
Rico's Gov. Luis Fortuño warned the rebellious 
students they will seek court orders to have them arrested and removed.

The strike, one of the longest and biggest in 
modern 
<http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/United+States>U.S. 
history, has garnered considerable support from 
both the university's faculty and the Puerto Rican public.

Yet the mainland press ignores it.

Many island residents admire the way the students 
have resisted massive government cutbacks to one 
of their most revered institutions. This Great 
Recession, after all, has been a far bigger 
disaster for Puerto Rico than for rest of the nation.

Even before the 
<http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Wall+Street>Wall 
Street financial collapse, 45% of the island's 
population was living below the poverty level.

Since then, tourism and manufacturing, Puerto 
Rico's main sources of income, have been 
devastated, and so have government revenues. More 
than 20,000 public employees have been laid off 
the past year by Fortuño as he sought to close a 
huge deficit. The unemployment rate jumped to 
17.2% in April, while the pension system for 
public employees is nearly bankrupt.

For generations, a University of Puerto Rico 
education was regarded as a sure way to escape 
poverty. Sixty percent of UPR's students, for 
example, have family incomes of less than $20,000 a year.

Since the university was largely funded through a 
9.6% set-aside of all government tax revenues, it 
was able to maintain low tuition, about $2,000 
annually, and even provide scholarships for 
standouts. It also enjoyed relative autonomy from the government.

But Fortuño's administration has promised Wall 
Street bondholders that it will make students pay 
a bigger share of the university's operating 
costs, downsize government and initiate more public-private partnerships.

As part of that plan, Fortuño wants to rewrite the higher education law.

Students oppose the reductions in scholarships as 
well as a new $1,200 student fee the university 
wants to impose. They fear that a new education 
law will usher in privatization efforts. Their 
supporters in the Puerto Rican legislature are 
urging instead new revenue streams, either 
through increasing the island's low corporate tax 
from 2.5% to 10% or through video lottery games, 
with the money earmarked for higher education.

Two weeks ago, the faculty senates of all 11 
campuses met in their first-ever joint session 
and voted overwhelmingly to back the student 
demands. Many union leaders throughout the island 
have also expressed their support.

At first, the university's trustees negotiated 
with student leaders and it seemed that a deal 
might be reached. But in recent days, both sides have hardened.

In the midst of those talks, de la Torre suddenly 
announced a 24-hour ultimatum for the strike to 
end. At the same time, more radical students in 
the leadership vowed to peacefully resist any attempts to remove them.

Forty years ago, a similar protest at the UPR led 
to a tragic police invasion of the main campus in 
Rio Piedras. When the confrontation was over, 100 
students had been injured. One, 21-year-old 
Antonia Martinez, was fatally shot in head by a police officer.

Unless cooler heads prevail soon, Puerto Rico's 
greatest university could once again spiral out of control.

<mailto:jgonzalez at nydailynews.com>jgonzalez at nydailynews.com

Read more: 
<http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/06/09/2010-06-09_ugly_showdown_seems_probable_in_puerto_rico.html#ixzz0qMl36J4J>http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/06/09/2010-06-09_ugly_showdown_seems_probable_in_puerto_rico.html#ixzz0qMl36J4J




Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

415 863-9977

www.Freedomarchives.org  
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20100609/1712a283/attachment.htm>