Student Protests in Puerto Rico

by Duquesa de los Palacios de Hielo
Living in sleepy Storrs, CT can sometimes truly feel like living in Bubbletown, USA. Between classes, work, and extracurricular activities, it should come as no surprise that the average UConn student has a tough time glancing over the world news regularly. If you happen to be one such student, perhaps you have yet to realize that the president of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, finally stepped down from his 30-plus reign in power, or that there have been ongoing student protests in Puerto Rico. Truthfully, I hadn’t even given much thought to the latter of these current events until this past week with some quick Google searches, sparking my interest further.


I remember briefly hearing about the protests in Puerto Rican campuses this past summer while my parents watched Primer Impacto, but their magnitude never quite registered at the time. Watching video clips from the recent protest on the Caribbean island this past week, I can’t help but ask what the rest of the world is thinking. Is this protest really just about a tuition increase? Through my research, I have consistently found that the root of these months-long student protests lies in a new proposal of increasing student fees in response to deficits that the school administration was experiencing. According to Cruz from FoxLatino the issue first arose at the beginning of 2010, the school board was proposing to double the price that it would cost to attend one of the eleven public universities of Puerto Rico. It also sought to privatize the universities, and proposed to enforce a $100 million budget cut. After one of the longest and largest student walk outs in Puerto Rican history, it appeared in July of this past year that the school board and students had come to some form of a negotiation. But now, seven months after an accord was made, the school board is proposing a new $800 special fee to be added on to university student’s annual tuition.

Whenever there’s a conflict, I feel that it’s best to look at both sides of the issue. Yes, it is unfair that the school is suddenly tagging on a new fee after it just came to an agreement with students this past summer that would stop it from doing so. But at the same time, the university system is in need of money. The money has to come from somewhere, and the University of Puerto Rico isn’t the first university who has had to increase its tuition as a result of tough economic times. If we look back, just two years ago, the Storrs campus underwent a 6 percent tuition increase, raising tuition to $1,180. And yet, there were no student protests to the length of those in Puerto Rico.

The main focus at this point is stopping the violence from both sides. Police as well as student protestors need to set aside their aggression, and come about in accordance in a more pacific manner. Nothing will be solved if the violence continues to escalate, it will only breed more hate and distrust from both sides. There needs to be a way that both students and administrators can come together, and be willing to give from both sides. Maybe students should take into consideration allowing the school board to raise the price of tuition, but at the same time, not to the extreme that some administrators want it to be raised.