The 2010–2011 University of Puerto Rico strikes (UPR) refer to the student strikes which took place between May 2010 and June 2010 in ten of the university system's eleven constituent institutions, as well as the protests that occurred from October 2010 to February 2011.
The 2010 strike began as a 48-hour walk-out on April 21, 2010, at the Rio Piedras Campus. The strike quickly grew in size and support as other campuses joined the protest. The strike forced UPR's Río Piedras Campus to shut down for more than 60 days.
Financial issues
The UPR operating costs are provided by a variety of sources, including federal, state, and private grants and tuition and fees paid by students; however, they are mostly provided by the state government based on a fixed formula of 9.6% of the average collections deposited in the government's General Fund during the preceding two years, which was established in the university's organic law in 1966.
On March 3, 2009, Governor Luis Fortuño announced his Fiscal and Economic Recovery Plan, which included reducing the government's annual expenditures by more than $2 billion at the start of the next fiscal year in July 2009 and possibly laying off up to 30,000 public sector workers. Eventually, 12,505 were laid off. In 2007 and 2008, the General Fund collections ceased to grow, and even began to diminish, as a recession took hold of Puerto Rico's economy.
Several new revenue streams, that had been created in fiscal control laws signed by Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá in 2006, were excluded from the General Funds and were not part of the base used for UPR's formula-based state revenues. Following the implementation of Law #7, declaring a Fiscal Emergency, government revenues going to the General Fund were further diminished or were reassigned to other areas of the budget. The property tax 5% temporary surcharge, the income tax 5% temporary surcharge, half of the revenues of the IVU tax sent to the Compelling Interest Fund Corporation (COFINA in Spanish), and the stabilization fund, which is basically a loan and not revenue, are excluded from the revenue base used in the computation of the formula.
The government's budget for this year exceeded $9 billion. Governor Fortuño stated in his Budget Message that, had the 1966 formula been based on expenditures and not revenues, the university would have been assigned approximately $864 million and not $733 million. He said that by dividing the $730 million from the budget of expenditure, the formula-based appropriation is close to 8.1% of expenditure, although it remains 9.6% of General Fund revenues.
In order to ameliorate the effect that a reduction on recurring revenues has had on the UPR budget, Gov. Fortuño made two non-recurring grants from the temporary ARRA federal funds, of $105 million and of $25 million, during the first two fiscal years of his term.
On September 25, 2009, the government announced it would lay off thousands of government workers from various agencies. On September 28, 2009, a General Student Assembly was held, prompted by the magnitude of these layoffs. This assembly created action committees for every college. It also decreed several days of strikes, and joined the so-called "National" Strike celebrated on October 15, 2009.
These action committees were validated by Student Assemblies (held in venues with a maximum capacity much lower than the size of the student bodies), in September 2009 and again in April 2010. These committees have played a key role in the 2010 UPR-RP strikes. In almost every instance, vote by secret ballot has been opposed by the General Student Councils.
On strike
Rio Piedras General Assembly
The General Student Council of the Rio Piedras campus held a General Assembly of Students on Tuesday, April 13, 2010, at the UPR-RP Theatre. Due to student overflow, the assembly was simultaneously held at Amphitheater Number 1 at the School of Education.
In assembly, students approved a motion to create a Negotiating Committee which would be delegated to discuss several issues with the university administration. The students demanded a repeal of Certification 98, put into order by the board of trustees, which made changes to the student waiver policies by limiting them. These policies would waive some payments related to tuition and other additional fees. Students were also opposed to tuition fee increases and demanded guarantees that campuses would not be privatized.
A call to strike was approved to pressure the administration to talk to and negotiate with students. The strike would last 48 hours starting on April 20, 2010, and if the administration failed to comply with student demands, an indefinite strike would begin on April 23, 2010.
Mayaguez General Assembly Students from the Mayagüez Campus of the University of Puerto Rico also held a general assembly, in which they ratified the indefinite strike vote. The ratification vote led to a long and heated debate during the assembly, as students took turns in favor and against the strike. Students also deliberated on whether to vote by secret ballot or by hand vote. The vote for indefinite strike was ratified by an evident majority of the students through a hand vote. With this vote for strike, Mayagüez students joined the 9 other campuses, including Rio Piedras, on a campus-wide indefinite student strike.
The Medical Sciences Campus was the only campus to remain operational throughout the strike.
48-hour strike Before the strike began, members of the Negotiating Committee of students attempted unsuccessfully to meet with President José Ramón de la Torre and Interim Chancellor Ana R. Guadalupe, but the administration maintained its stance in favour of the quota and budget cuts.
The strike on the Rio Piedras Campus began on the morning of April 21, 2010; between 4:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. students closed off access to the campus by locking all gates and building improvised barricades. Students clashed with university guards that tried to prevent the students from closing the gates. Interim Chancellor Guadalupe ordered an indefinite shutdown of the campus around 9:35 a.m., and denounced that 19 university guards were harmed in the takeover.
The Administration refused to meet up with the students in those 48-hours, therefore students activated their vote for an indefinite Strike to begin at midnight of 23 April.
Indefinite strike Students at 10 of the 11 campuses continued their protests. On May 3 the professors and students of the Cayey campus joined the indefinite strike. At the Rio Piedras campus students remained inside throughout the strike, using portable showers and stoves in their makeshift camps. Desks and chairs continued to barricade university gates for weeks, while student dorms were taken over by students. In May demonstrators and police clashed outside the Sheraton Hotel where a PNP fundraising event, which the governor Luis Fortuño attended, was taking place. During June, In the midst of the strike, UPR President de la Torre announced a 24-hour ultimatum for the strike to end. Students, however, continued their protests. During the strike, there were also several reports of police preventing students camping inside from receiving food and water.
At first, negotiations stalled for weeks. When the Negotiating Committee was finally able to meet with UPR administrative officials, including the President of the Board of Trustees, Ygrí Rivera, and the UPR President, there was no apparent progress toward ending the student strike."Students, unions promise increased militancy in UPR strike" PRDailysun.com
Tuition fees After negotiations had almost ended the strike, it was discovered that there was going to be a 100% estimated tuition hike. The hike, unveiled by the President of the Board of Trustees, Ygrí Rivera, made the previously negotiated achievements on the waivers or exemptions almost inconsequential. The administration "flexibilised" the hike, trying to make students agree with either a 100% tuition hike or a $1,300 Special Fee. The fee would be paid twice or three times a year, for a three-year period, and would be tied to a tuition fee increase after the three-year period, despite the fact that tuition increases are already in place until the 2015–16 academic year according to Certification 60.
In order to have the special fee approved, in July 2010 the government modified the board of trustees to increase their members from 13 to 17. Then, they imposed a special fee of $800.00 per year indefinitely.
Support from other sectors
Local support A group of Puerto Rican artists decided host a concert titled ¡Que vivan los estudiantes! on April 28, in support for the students on strike. Some of the artists present were Antonio Caban Vale (El Topo), Tito Auger, Los Rayos Gamma, Andy Montañez, Danny Rivera, and among many others. Rene Perez of the duo Calle 13 expressed his support and presented a video of artists who were supporting the students. Some of the artists in the video were: Ricky Martin, Ruben Blades, Juanes, Bebe, and Alejandro Sanz among others. More concerts were also held in other campuses, including Mayagüez, Cayey, Humacao and Bayamon.
On May 21, more than 1,000 professors from all 11 campuses met in a General Assembly."Student strike in Puerto Rico underscores widespread discontent" MiamiHerald.com During that assembly, the professors voted to continue the strike should university officials end it by using police force against students. They also called for the resignation of the President of the UPR and of the President of the Board of Trustees, Ygrí Rivera. Non-teaching university employees also showed support to striking students, such as the Hermandad (HEEND) union and the Syndicate representing university maintenance workers.
International support UNAM students have released communiques in favor of the student strike. Also students from the Dominican Republic published a letter on May 5, 2010, supporting the UPR students and their strike. Around 230 University of Barcelona students have signed a paper in favor of the strike too. The Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo's School of Social Work Professors Association has expressed support in the struggle against "the destruction of education at the University of Puerto Rico", as have several student organizations from the Dominican Republic, and the Internationalist Clubs at CUNY.
Academic support On April 27, professors from the Cayey campus went on a 72-hour strike in support of the students. On that same day, the students of the Cayey campus also approved a 72-hour strike.
On April 29, the Río Piedras campus chapter of the "Asociación Puertorriqueña de Profesores Universitarios" staged a one-day walk-out in support of the students, and called on its members to respect the picket line. On May 21, in a General Assembly of all the UPR professors agreed to making the strike an indefinite one until the university administration negotiated.
After a faculty meeting, professors from the Mayagüez Campus said that they did not trust their chancellor, Jorge Rivera Satos, on May 4 thanks to his unwillingness to negotiate with students and professors of the university.
The chancellor of the Arecibo campus, Ana Gómez, resigned to her job because José de la Torre asked her to do so after she supported the strikes. As a result, all the deans of the UPR Arecibo campus resigned from their positions.
The HEEND and the "Asociación Puertorriqueña de Profesores Universitarios" (APPU) also joined the strike. The president of the organization, Wilberto Jiménez Rivera wrote a series of articles in newspapers like "El Nuevo Día", where he expresses his solidarity with the strike.