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<h2><b>Students’ Victory at UPR
Confict</b></h2><font size=3>
<a href="http://www.prdailysun.com/index.php?page=news.article&id=1276754911" eudora="autourl">
http://www.prdailysun.com/index.php?page=news.article&id=1276754911</a>
<br><br>
June 17, 2010<br><br>
</font><font size=2>After more than four hours of discussion, student
leaders from the National Bargaining Committee and the University of
Puerto Rico administration signed and certified the final agreement which
could soon bring an end to the 55-day strike at the UPR. The NBC
leadership achieved the four fundamental claims the students had
continuously insisted on. The students at all 11 campuses must
still ratify the agreements. The issue of penalties for the
striking had been the stalemate that impeded the agreement. <br><br>
Wednesday, after a heated debate among members of the Board of
Trustees, a consensus on language was finally reached. <br><br>
INS learned that the intervention of trustee and UPR ex President
Norman Maldonado, was key in convincing Chairwoman of the Board of
Trustees Ygrí Rivera, to drop her consistent hard line regarding the
application of penalties to the strikers. Maldonado had not previously
intervened because he was off the island. <br><br>
“Maldonado and Rivera had strong encounters; he favored the student’s
language, while she maintained her position of not bargaining,” a source
told INS.<br><br>
The final agreement on the subject of penalties established that no
university authority would be able to suspend or expel a striker through
a summary process. It was agreed that no charges will be made
against students and members of the academic community while exercising
their legitimate rights, whether or not they participated in marches,
meetings, protests or any other strike-related activity.<br><br>
If the university administration were to apply a existing rule against a
student, and he or she were found guilty through an administrative
hearing, the university guarantees the appeals process will be carried
out quickly. It also acknowledges that any delay will not affect the
students academically.<br><br>
The Board of Trustees acknowledged that if examiners were to be appointed
to process cases against students, they must be ex-judges.
<br><br>
“The process is an extraordinary victory for students,” said NBC
lawyer Frank Torres Viada. “The big achievement is that, regarding
penalties, it is a process that guarantees fairness, impartiality and
legality, far beyond the current dispositions of the UPR student
rules.” <br>
The Board of Trustees also agreed not to increase tuition through a
special fee at the start of next semester. However, according to
the agreement, if the trustees consider it necessary to set a fee,
the amount will not exceed the amount representing the increase in Pell
Grant for years 2009-2010 & 2010-2011, based on the grant given in
2008-2009.<br><br>
“This must not be construed as acceptance by the NBC or the students,”
the document says. <br><br>
The agreements come after Judge José Negrón Fernández’s order Friday
mandating a mediation process between the NBC and the Board of Trustees,
permitting both parties to put their controversial issues on the
bargaining table.<br><br>
The mediation process in which ex-Judge Pedro López Oliver was appointed,
started formally on Saturday, and arose from a legal claim submitted by
attorney Torres Viada representing student leaders René Vargas and
Verónica Guzmán.<br><br>
The annulment of Certification 98 and the acceptance that none of the
campuses will be privatized under the Public-Private Alliance project
were two other achievements.<br><br>
Starting today, students have five days to convene student meetings
at every campus to ratify the agreements. Once the agreements are
ratified, the gates of all campuses will open, and administrative and
academic work will resume. <br>
</font><font size=3>**************************************************<br>
June 17, 2010<br><br>
</font><h1><b>Students Gain After Strike in Puerto
Rico</b></h1><font size=3>
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/18/us/18students.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/18/us/18students.html<br>
</a></font><h6><b>By
<a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/damien_cave/index.html?inline=nyt-per">
DAMIEN CAVE</a></b></h6><font size=3>MIAMI Thousands of students at the
University of Puerto Rico who went on strike two months ago to oppose
severe budget cuts declared victory on Thursday after reaching an
agreement with administrators.<br><br>
As part of a deal brokered by a court-appointed mediator, students would
end their strike one of the largest and longest such walkouts in Puerto
Rican history in exchange for a number of concessions. Most notably,
the university’s Board of Regents has agreed to cancel a special fee that
would have effectively doubled the cost to attend the university’s 11
public campuses.<br><br>
The deal also includes a promise that there will be no sanctions against
strike organizers, who clashed at times with the police at the main Río
Piedras campus outside San Juan.<br><br>
The accord must still be approved by a general assembly of university
students, which is expected Monday. Christopher Powers, a literature
professor at the Mayagüez campus, said it was “nearly a complete victory
for the students,” noting that they failed to get a promise that there
would be no large tuition increase next year. Professor Powers said
planned cuts later this year to the salaries and benefits of professors
could set off another round of conflict.<br><br>
“The fact that a student movement was able to force the administration
and the government to sit down at the negotiating table and concede to
nearly all their demands is a very important precedent,” Professor Powers
said. “It will serve as an inspiration.”<br><br>
<br><br>
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