On a farm in the Río Piedras area, Puerto Rico’s first university and educational center was established, authorized by the Law of March 12, 1903. The Encyclopedia of Puerto Rico notes that the university was a proposal funded by the Insular Board of Public Instruction directed toward any town in Puerto Rico interested in starting a school to train teachers. Having the best proposal, Fajardo was the awarded municipality in 1900, naming their school “Escuela Normal Insular.” However, the transportation towards Fajardo quickly became a hurdle for teachers and students. This led the Insular Board of Public Instruction to relocate the university to Río Piedras, which, at the turn of the century, was still its own municipality.
With the expansion of the university and the establishment of specialized departments on each campus, the University grew as a vital entity for Puerto Rico. After obtaining administrative independence through the University law of 1923, the University of Puerto Rico solidified its identity in relation to the country and vice versa. The accelerated economic development of Puerto Rico in the 1930s was accompanied by the growth and evolution of the university, and gave the Río Piedras campus a unique identity for its centrality and precocity. Over the years, students, faculty, and administrators have shaped its legacy through memorable events that have influenced change not only at the University, but also Puerto Rico itself. Below I will list three of those defining historical events at the Río Piedras campus that have impacted the university we know today:
- The Strike in Defense of Pedro Albizu Campos and Rebellion Against the Gag Law
-
Photos provided from the ‘El Mundo’ newspaper collection at the UPR Library, NotiCel website.
In 1936, Pedro Albizu Campos was arrested in the United States for conspiracy to overthrow the American government in Puerto Rico. After his release in 1948, he returned to Puerto Rico and was received by students from the University of Puerto Rico amid a strike caused by the prohibition of the Puerto Rican flag on campus by Chancellor Jaime Benítez. This was due to the Gag Law which severely restricted political opposition, especially towards nationalists and advocates of Puerto Rican independence. Though Benítez allowed the flag to be raised on special occasions, students José Gil De Lamadrid and Antonio Gregory raised it on December 14, 1948. The next day, the head of the University Guard, Charles Petterne, replaced it with the American one, which provoked student complaints.
When the students complained to the chancellor, he accused them of “violating university authority” and threatened them with disciplinary sanctions. On the day of Albizu Campos’ arrival, the student’s strike intensified with the support of the nationalist leader. In retaliation, Benitez requested intervention from Governor Jesús T. Piñero, who in response ordered the island police to raise the American flag again. This incident resulted in the expulsion of more than 400 students.
- The Strike against the Vietnam War
-
Noticel
Similar to many universities worldwide, students at the University of Puerto Rico walked out of their classrooms to protest against the Vietnam War and mandatory military service for young Puerto Rican men. This protest lasted throughout the duration of the war (1955-1975) and was led primarily by students from the Federation of Pro-Independence University Students (FUPI) and the Anti-Communist University Front (FAU). Julio A. Muriente, a former student and activist, recalls for Red Betances, “The People of Vietnam were not our enemy. They were our ally, in favor of self-determination and independence…in that aggression of a great power against a small country that simply claimed, like us, its right to be free and independent…We longed for the Vietnamese people to defeat American imperialism—as they did—on the battlefield. That would be a victory for us as well.”
For this story, it is essential to mention that resistance to military presence on campus had started years before, particularly regarding the existence and compulsory incorporation of the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) program. In 1970, at the height of anti-war sentiment, the students organized a strike in opposition to the military presence on campus and the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War. On March 4th, 1970, after a series of confrontations in which there were physical altercations between students, cadets, and police, the student body strike escalated and ended with the burning of the ROTC building. Consequently, the ex-governor Luis A. Ferré authorized an intervention in the strike with police shock force. Tragically, during the conflict, the student Antonia Martínez Lagares was killed after complaining about the abuse of the police from the balcony of her lodging above the Norberto González bookstore.
Photo taken by Layra Serrano (Humanities Building, Drama) / ‘Bonita Radio’, Facebook
- The Great Strike (“La Gran Huelga”)
-
This title is attributed to a decisive day for the current reality of the University of Puerto Rico after a series of student strikes that began on March 28, 2017. The reason for the protest was a budget cut of $450 million, proposed by the government of Puerto Rico and approved by the Fiscal Control Board. This march that united all the campuses of the University of Puerto Rico, brought together more than 5,000 students who marched together to the capitol. The defining moment of this strike was when the students interrupted a meeting of the UPR Governing Board in Central Administration, where they surrounded the members and demanded a signature from the university president, Nivia Fernández Hernández, promising to reject the budget cuts.This strike lasted 3 months in the second semester of 2017 and resulted in the imprisonment of 12 students of the university system.
Every current or former student of the University of Puerto Rico, especially the Río Piedras Campus, has an anecdote about their “culture shocks” as new students. These strikes and moments of turbulence for student life in the public university system are events that reflect the spirit of resilience of the youth and produce generations of reformers. While we can critique areas of improvement within the university, we are also responsible for the legacy shaped by the students in the stories told here. It is our responsibility to ensure the future of the University of Puerto Rico.