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| Students from the College (High School) of Sciences and Humanities Photo: Marco Peláez |
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| Luis Raul Gonzalez Perez, UNAM general counsel Photo: Marco Peláez |
La Jornada: Emir Olivares and Arturo Jimenez
The first session of dialogue between university authorities and the representatives of those who took the rectory [administrative building] of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), which was to be held today beginning at 1:00 PM [Thursday] in the Alfonso Caso auditorium, did not take place after both parties failed to reach agreement on the dates for the various debates. However, the "dialogue is not broken", the parties agreed separately.
The disagreement occurred during closed-door negotiations of the Preparatory Committee (with representation from the protesters, officials and members of Serapaz [Services and Consultancy for Peace], which has mediated in the conflict. The negotiations began shortly after 9:00 AM yesterday.
The meeting was expected to conclude before 1:00 PM, when the dialogue was due to begin regarding the updating or reform of the curricula of the College of Sciences and Humanities (CCH) [high school division of UNAM].
In the earlier meeting, the steering committee, headed by the general counsel of the institution, Luis Raul Gonzalez Perez, insisted that 14 sessions be conducted between May and June.
The proposal was rejected by the students and their "faculty advisory committee", who demanded that the meetings be postponed until August, because the semester ended yesterday at the CCH and in August, with the resumption of academic activities, there would be "greater community participation".
The preparatory meeting ended without agreement, resulting in the suspension of the first dialogue. Afterwards, in separate statements, each side accused the other of not being disposed to carry out the dialogue.
... Shortly after 1:30 PM, the committee that supports the youth group... came to the door of the Alfonso Caso auditorium to read its position regarding the disagreement.
"Representatives of the university administration seek to impose the dialogue meetings during the holiday period of the students of the CCH, leaving them out of reach for the students. The university community makes a strong appeal to the representatives of the administration to hold these dialogues on weekdays during the school year."... Minutes later, the general counsel of UNAM stressed its readiness for dialogue and indicated that the dialogue is not broken off, and that on Tuesday of next week there will be a third private meeting with bilateral representation to discuss the ground rules for a meeting to be held, probably on Thursday, May 16.
... González Pérez read an institutional position paper ... in which he recalled that at the previous meeting of the bilateral commission, held this past Tuesday, it was agreed to hold 14 dialogue sessions between May and June with groups made up of 15 members from each side and with the assistance of counsel. ... Spanish original