Resolución en apoyo a los estudiantes, profesores, y empleados exentos y no-docentes de la UPR en la reunión anual de United Association of Labor Educators en Nuevo Orleans, Louisiana.

Statement in Solidarity with the Students, Staff and Faculty of the University of Puerto Rico

The United Association of Labor Educators stands in solidarity with the students, staff, and faculty of the University of Puerto Rico who have been engaged in a struggle to protest crippling budget cuts, increases in tuition which has resulted in the exclusion of more than 10,000 students from the university. They are also fighting the attempt at privatizing the university.

The use of the Puerto Rican police to repress the right of dissent by the students, staff and faculty is of great concern to us especially in light of the accusations of brutality, sexual harassment  and torture by the Puerto Rican police.

Putting up barriers to a college education in Puerto Rico would be a step backwards for the island nation. As is the layoff of 26,000 public employees and the freezing of their contracts.

We call on the governor of Puerto Rico to put an end to any and all the repressive tactics being taken by the police and the University administration on the UPR campuses. Instead the government should choose to sit down in good faith with the students, staff and faculty and discuss alternatives to the cutbacks, to the tuition increase and the privatization of the University. They should also honor the agreements reached last summer by the Board of Regents and the National Negotiating Committee of the students.