La Jornada: Statement of José Narro Robles, Rector [President] of the National Autonomous University of Mexico regarding the events around the seizure and release of the administration building. Translation by Stuart Taylor
Good afternoon everyone. Thank you very much for joining us at this press conference whose aim is to fix a position and to send a message. I’m sure that there will be a lot of questions but please understand that I will not be able to reply to them today for various reasons – the main one being that we are carrying out a complete evaluation of the facts and extent of the damage and so on.
I would like to start by saying in front of all of you, through the media that you represent – and I am grateful for the presence and coverage that this message is being given – that today is once again one of those complex days for the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
It is complex because, on one hand, we have the satisfaction of finding ourselves once again back in the tower of the Rectory, and on the other, a contrasting feeling, a feeling of sadness caused by current events and some of the facts of which we have begun to take note.
I would like to say to the university community and Mexican society that, of course, once again the National Autonomous University of Mexico’s heritage, image and also the services that it provides to society have all been affected. We cannot ignore this. We cannot pretend that none of this ever happened.
Particularly because I am wholly convinced that the events recorded should not have occurred. Violence is not the way to take over facilities and to affect normal university life. Nor is it the way to make a difference, the way to express disagreement, or the mechanism through which to let a protest or a dispute be known.
Even more so when there are multiple channels and outlets in the university available to address, acknowledge, register and resolve those differences, to resolve those disputes.
Neither the curriculum being considered by the College of Sciences and Humanities (which doesn’t yet exist – what exists is the one currently in force) nor the process that has driven the technical council of the College of Sciences and Humanities for over a year, are a justified reason for these circumstances.
What has unfortunately taken place are violent acts. It is the impact on the integrity of our students that has driven us to where we are today.
For the students and for a civilized society that prides itself on that fact, violence is precisely the antithesis of the values that are nurtured in this school. Fortunately, the facts tell us that intelligence and prudence are ways and mechanisms that must be employed in order to tackle narrow-mindedness and intolerance.
I would like to tell you that I am convinced that every day in this institution lessons are learned, this is part of the university’s raison d’être. Our students come to get an education by learning from various content, information, methods, techniques and assessments.
In this school we have been used to continually learning – even about our own problems. That is why I say that, given the circumstances on a day like today, when we return to these facilities, when those who unduly took them over have gone, we have to learn from this situation, from this problem.
We must teach the university community, our students, workers, academics and administrative staff through dialogue, prudence, intelligence and the use of reason.
I believe that for our country in times like these where nobody can ignore the state of discomfort and the difficulties that affect very important core areas of our society, what should also be important is understanding that in such a diverse society such as Mexico, in such a diverse community as the university, there are different ways other than traditional ones to resolve problems, in order to reach a solution to the conflicts and to learn from what has happened.
I want to make it clear that at no time was there any attempt to prosecute, much less criminalize, the protest. Of course, university authorities, the rector and the rectory under my supervision have all denounced the violence and firmly and respectfully demanded that the facilities be reinstated, that they leave the tower and the rectory and, of course, that those who were involved in inappropriate and inadequate conduct for a university student, prior to any academic order, be disciplined.
Those who choose violence are defying the order and the principles of the university. Those who use force as a substitute for reason are wrong and send a message that in no way represents what the immense majority of the members of this university today have always expressed and maintained.
Each and every one of us must learn about what has occurred. Each and every one of us will have to work to strengthen the unity of our community, the integrity of this institution to which we proudly belong and that provides invaluable services to our country.
I am delighted that those who unduly occupied these facilities have now left. I maintain that we will look forward from this and that what we have already done has been recorded and that the rector of the university, a public servant, will know how to explain to the community the acts that have taken place.
But at the same time, I fully understand that we must look forward, that if what has been asked for is dialogue, then there must be dialogue, but among students. Dialogue among those affected in which emphasis is put on the argument, information and the widest possible debate regarding the issues that worry them – in this case the curriculum of the College of Sciences and Humanities.
The rectory under my supervision has attempted - (and the evaluation is not my responsibility) - to act in adherence with regulations, the university’s principles and, at the same time, exhausting the institutional channels, as I have said from the first instance, exercising the spirit of the university, making use of intelligence, of those principles and discretion in order to avoid more complex situations. This is the message that I want to send today, and I reiterate to you my appreciation of your help in reaching the students and the rest of our society.
Good afternoon and thank you very much. Spanish original