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 Editorials | Opinions | September 2007 
Tyrannosaurus Academicus - Part 5
 Dr. Mark B. Ryan - PVNN
The notion of a conspiracy was apparently intended for general political consumption; few at the university seemed to take it seriously. So far was Dr. Lindley's proposal from a "conspiracy" that he had asked the provost to arrange a meeting with the chairman of the Patronato in order to explain his ideas. Dr. Lindley's request for such a meeting, which was later declined by the Patronato's chairman, was known to its other members and to the rector, who of course made no mention of it in his public accusations. The idea of a conspiracy was further belied in the subsequent few weeks, when the continuing firings came to include high-ranking administrators, and additional faculty, for whom no such link to conspiracy was even advanced.
The official watchword became not "conspiracy" but "restructuring"-though no goals or principles for any such restructuring have been articulated. But in any case, office workers linked to dismissed professors and administrators were also fired, regardless of the quality of their labors. When members of the Consejo publicly criticized the spate of firings, they too were dismissed, on grounds that their criticisms had violated the new "code of ethics." Other members resigned in protest; then, in short order, the Consejo itself was abolished. The six members of a newly formed advisory board for the fledgling medical program-all physicians of the highest national prestige-also resigned.
The rector's radical "restructuring" paid no regard for the programs affected. For lack of key personnel, two academic departments-Economics and Communications-were crippled; TCU cancelled a joint program with the UDLA in the latter field. Another department, International Relations, was severely undermined; like Economics, it has taken no new students into its graduate programs. A promising effort to reintroduce a Bachelor of Arts degree, recently and enthusiastically approved by SACS, was cast aside, as were efforts in international marketing. Structures for the oversight of important co-curricular programs, such as the residential colleges, were largely disbanded.
Vigorous protests of the firings appeared in newspapers across the country and in electronic media. They have included a declaration signed by 80 eminent professors from throughout the country; another, also national in scope, signed by prominent professors of communications; and others by many alumni. A blog centered in Mexico City has assiduously collected all the publicity and published additional articles of protest; it and other blogs attract daily fulminations against the rector, and laments over the deteriorating status of the University. In the face of such severe scrutiny, the administration has hired an expensive public relations firm to polish its rapidly crumbling image. And in a further attempt to control information, it has again suppressed the independence of the student newspaper. With investigation and criticism heavily restricted by the new "code of ethics," the elected editorial staff of the newspaper resigned early in the fall, 2007 term, and the publication was turned over to students chosen by the administration.
The Universidad de las Américas has been built up over many years, with the efforts of legions of people whose goal has been to create a first-rate, secular, private and cosmopolitan university for Mexico. But the university that they created is rapidly being dismantled. There are no official figures, but estimates are that during the two years of Pedro Angel Palou's mandate, some 70 professors, including some of the most prestigious, and 120 administrators, including many of the most experienced, have been dismissed or have resigned, and the firings continue. The wider community that forms around a strong academic institution has been shattered. Alumni have been bitterly alienated, a great portion the student body is highly discontent, and the university has plummeted in prestige in academic circles throughout the country.
To what end? Why has Pedro Angel Palou engaged in this brutal assault on the university's mission, and why has the Patronato allowed it? Since no credible alternative vision has been articulated, and no rationale given, the responses to those questions are necessarily speculative. The theories that one hears within the community, though, are essentially three, which we might call Profit, Politicization, and Plunder.
Profit. When the previous rector, Dr. Nora Lustig, was herself dismissed, she attributed the decision to the Patronato's indifference towards the vision of a high-caliber university, which she had defended, and to its concern to convert the UDLA into a more reliably profitable business. As the Patronato has frequently been reminded, an academically outstanding university-which must support a strong full-time faculty, research, and many auxiliary services for both students and faculty-is an expensive operation. Tuition will not cover expenses; funds must be raised, and an endowment is virtually essential. Under its previous leadership, the foundation had been willing to donate regularly to support university operations, effectively serving as an endowment. But the family now comprising the Patronato has repeatedly emphasized that the university must be "self-sustaining"-that is, that tuition must cover all expenses-and they have shown little or no interest in fund-raising.
The alternative to an expensive, high quality institution might be to push the university more in the direction of a "patito"-literally, "little duck"-a Mexican colloquial term for a small and unpretentious university. Relying predominantly on part-time faculty, and with minimal facilities and limited programs, such institutions can keep expenses low and turn a profit. With what appears to be a tendency to view the university as only another of its assorted business operations, the Patronato may wish to make the UDLA more of a "patito," with fewer full-time faculty and employees, fewer services, and less emphasis on research. The faculty residential zone and other assets could be sold off. Academic prestige, of course, would suffer, but that seems never to have been the commitment of this Patronato. If that is true, the extensive high-level dismissals would fit well into the plan.
Politicization. Accounts have appeared in the local electronic press suggesting that under Pedro Angel Palou, the UDLA is being converted into an instrument of the PRI, the political party that held an iron grip on power in Mexico for over 70 years, often with notoriously autocratic practices, and which still is in control in the state of Puebla. Since his arrival, many of the rector's key administrative appointments, at both high and mid-levels, have come from political life, virtually all of them with ties to the PRI. He has been severely criticized on campus for his continuing ties to the discredited state governor.
In April of 2006, without consulting their superior, the vice-rector for finance, the rector suddenly dismissed various administrative officers concerned with university finances, purchasing, and human resources, replacing them with associates from the political world. His original justification, claiming the discovery of missing funds, was disputed by other administrators, and never demonstrated. For a time, the new directors were given check-writing privileges that circumvented previous controls, until that practice was successfully halted by the vice-rector for finance. Dubious practices included the writing of checks to family members of the rector's personal "team," ostensibly in order to cover expenses for the rector's literary magazine. Credible sources have reported that some of these funds were actually used to support a political campaign. The vice-rector's objections to such a lack of transparency, and to the possible pirating of funds for political and other purposes, contributed to a growing split within the administration.
The rector's appointments of political associates with little or no experience in academic administration include a recent nomination as Academic Vice Rector (the nominee accepted the position but resigned after only a few days in the position), and among others, the current General Secretary, the Director of Administration, the Director of Finances, the Director of Marketing, the Director of Public Information, and-key to many other hirings-the Director of Personnel. Word has leaked out that the political appointments have received salaries as high as three times that of their predecessors, and that they were surreptitiously given salary increases by means that avoided the normal channels of approval. In addition, at a time of firings and cutbacks, appointments have been made of people with political connections when no position had been either announced or contemplated. The recent spate of firings of long-term and highly experienced administrators has baffled many on the campus, but it may well clear the way for further nominations of political associates. By this theory, the ties among the Patronato, the rector, and the PRI are growing all the tighter, and the UDLA is becoming an instrument of state politics.
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