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<div style="display: block;" id="reader-header" class="header"> <b><small><small><small><small><a
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Puerto-Rico-Students-Shut-down-University-over-Austerity-Cuts--20160317-0004.html"
id="reader-domain" class="domain"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Puerto-Rico-Students-Shut-down-University-over-Austerity-Cuts--20160317-0004.html">http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Puerto-Rico-Students-Shut-down-University-over-Austerity-Cuts--20160317-0004.html</a></a></small></small></small></small></b>
<h1 id="reader-title">Puerto Rico Students Shut down University
over Austerity Cuts</h1>
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xml:base="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Puerto-Rico-Students-Shut-down-University-over-Austerity-Cuts--20160317-0004.html"
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<p itemprop="description alternativeHeadline"
class="subtitle">March 17, 2016<br>
</p>
<p itemprop="description alternativeHeadline"
class="subtitle">The students are calling for <span
data-scayt-word="people" data-scayt-lang="es_ES">people</span>
all <span data-scayt-word="over" data-scayt-lang="es_ES">over</span>
the <span data-scayt-word="country"
data-scayt-lang="es_ES">country</span> to
join the protest against "unpayable debt" and austerity.</p>
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<p dir="ltr"><span
id="docs-internal-guid-bd749224-8352-4f8c-0803-78032c823eca">Thousands
of college students from the University of Puerto Rico
(UPR) approved a three-day, full-campus
shutdown Tuesday to protest recent austerity
measures, which they say endanger the higher education
system. </span> </p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>The students held a general student
assembly, after which they marched through the
university and closed all entrances to the campus. The
students also called for the resignation of top
university officials and announced they would consider
an indefinite strike if their demands are not met.</span>
</p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>At about 6:00 am Wednesday, the eight
gates of the UPR were closed a reported 1,968 students
decided to demand the immediate payment of remittances
to the UPR by the Department of Finance, and the
elimination of the freezing of the so-called “formula
9.6%."</span> </p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>The formula 9.6% requires the state to
assign the University of Puerto Rico 9.6% of its
annual revenues. The basis of this law is that the
state has the social obligation to invest in a public
institution of higher learning, to create and maintain
a state university, without which no modern society
can prosper. </span> </p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>"We must ensure the public funding of
the university and cuts cannot be accepted as a
solution to the crisis," said Naphtali Sanchez,
representative of education to the negotiating
committee that was established Monday in the assembly.</span>
</p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>to the detriment of essential public
services. In July, the government faces a debt
repayment of US$1.9 Billion.</span> </p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>At the main entrance of the campus, the
student Victor Velez Perez outlined some of the
consequences the austerity measures have had on the
quality of educational services during the past nine
years. </span> </p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>"The administration is not guaranteeing
us our own, permanent teachers. We need to have
teachers who stay with us to foster that sense of
permanence. Having contract teachers, transitory
teachers, it affects our training," said Velez Perez.</span>
</p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>At the meeting, the students
also rejected a study commissioned by the Board of
Governors of the UPR to the Association of Governing
Boards of Universities and Colleges, which recommends
consolidating functions of regional campuses,
including other reforms.</span> </p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>A number of teachers have
announced support for the strike, such as Professor
Rafael Bernabe, a gubernatorial candidate for the
Party of the Working People (PPT).</span> </p>
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<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.freedomarchives.org">www.freedomarchives.org</a>
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