Firings, hiring freezes, refusal to accept incoming students in certain departments, funding cuts, and not-so-covert plans to privatize education are just some of the sudden changes that many fear are steps the government is taking to dismantle the University of Puerto Rico as we knew it. And there are more changes looming on the horizon:
Cynthia López Cabán (El Nuevo Día) reports that the Advisory Committee on the Future of Higher Education in Puerto Rico seems inclined to submit recommendations that will change the way in which instructors are hired in the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) system and the way in which the various bodies of the University Governance will operate, according to an unnamed university source.
The committee, which must submit a preliminary report to Governor Luis Fortuño on or before August 15, will also propose the merger of venues and programs to reduce administrative costs and avoid duplication of tasks. “They want to remove tenure,” said the source.
According to López Cabán’s source, the committee is trying to “expedite” the internal processes in the institution and limit the participation of the various sectors of the university community in the decision-making process, even transforming “the way in which we choose the [University] president.”
[Many thanks to Maritza Stanchich for bringing this ítem to our attention.]
For original article (in Spanish) http://m.elnuevodia.com/quickPage.html?page=37635&cc=share.html%3FnotId%3D1025038
