University of Puerto Rico Leadership Resigns Over Budget Cut Plan

Nearly the entire leadership of the University of Puerto Rico resigned in protest of a requested one-third cut in the commonwealth contribution to the school's budget.

University Interim President Celeste Freytes Gonzáles and 10 of the university's 11 rectors said their resignations were irrevocable. Freytes Gonzáles said effective Monday she will return to being a professor at the UPR Faculty of Education in Río Piedras. One rector didn't resign.

The cut is part of the effort to address the island's debt crisis. Students also protested by starting a strike at one of the university's campuses and planning one at another, and will vote on strikes in the next few days at three more campuses, according to the El Vocero news web site.

In a written statement the rectors said that Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossell-'s Financial Advisory Authority and Fiscal Agency had requested the university cut $300 million from its budget. This would mirror what the Puerto Rico Oversight Board suggested in a mid-January letter to Rossell- where it outlined its approach to a 10-year fiscal plan.

In their resignation letter Thursday the rectors said they had "countless meetings" with teachers, non-teachers, and students concerning ways to reduce spending and increase income. "The result is clear; the required figure cannot be reached by cutting 36% of the current allocation. Each reduction would affect in a different way a heterogeneous university system where the previous eight years of cuts have significantly weakened operations."

The rectors said that Rossell- objected to the Oversight Board's proposed $300 million cut in a letter on Jan. 21. In that letter Rossell- objected in general to the board's austerity proposals for all Puerto Rico's government. With regard to UPR, he wrote, "We will not limit access to higher education as a key enabler of social mobility and economic development." However, the governor didn't specifically say that the proposed $300 million cut was unreasonable.

"We reject more sacrifice to the UPR while other corporations and government structures do not step forward, nor are they required to experience the draconian cuts that have been required of an institution that has proven to be vital in the country's development," the rectors said.

"We repudiate the insistence of paying the public debt at the expense of the university," the rectors said.

The rectors said in recent years the university had a funding formula freeze, leading to a reduction of $116 million less per year in receipts from Puerto Rico's central government. This has led to less funding for professors and staff members.

The rectors said they were resigning because they couldn't "endorse a proposal that undermines higher education."

Rossell-'s chief of staff William Villafañe said in a press statement: "We are doing what needs to be done to address public finances; it was up to Freytes to do the same in the university. This abandonment of her duties seriously affects the university community."

On Friday president of the Popular Democratic Party David Bernier tweeted, "UPR is the main asset that Puerto Rico has to overcome the crisis. You have to strengthen it, not dismantle it." The PDP is the main opposition party in Puerto Rico.

"One year tuition at the UPR is close to $2,000," Advantage Business Consulting President Vicente Feliciano commented. "The UPR still offers secretarial programs. It must make adjustments. However, if required to make $300 million in adjustments, expect the UPR to be at the forefront of resistance to the fiscal adjustment plan."

UPR has about $432 million of debt outstanding.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Puerto Rico
MORE FROM BOND BUYER