The UPR Utuado Campus is facing an unavoidable closing as the Puerto Rico Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority (AAFAF) and the UPR Governing Board indicate the future plans for this campus according to Puerto Rico’s fiscal plan.
After a multisectorial assembly on April 10th, the academic senators informed the students, the personnel and the rest of the “utuadeños” how this plan will affect the operations of the campus as we know it.
According to Dr. Reniel Rodríguez, professor of the university, this plan consists of making the campus an agricultural extension and experimental station under the UPR Mayagüez Campus—eliminating all of its undergraduate programs by 2019.
He also stated that this violates one of the campus’s objectives, threatening the “intellectual and cultural wealth of our Puerto Rican society.” This will affect as well all the students under the programs, as this plan doesn’t give them an option to continue with their current studies within this proposal.
Given the situation, a manifestation against this plan was convened April 17th, 2018 in front of the Central Offices of the University of Puerto Rico located in “Jardín Botánico” at 10AM. Transportation was held from the Utuado Campus to Río Piedras starting at 7:30AM.
Source: Radio Isla