Demonstrators demand state support for displaced Chilean students

Confech organizes march in response to shut-down of university.

Several hundred students marched at La Moneda presidential palace Wednesday morning, demanding that the state manage the fallout of a congressionally-mandated university closure. Leaders from the Confederation of Chilean Students (Confech) hand-delivered a letter of support for students enveloped in the recent Universidad del Mar scandal.


In October, the Education Ministry requested that the National Council of Education (CNED) shut down the university’s 14 nationwide campuses, leaving the fate of its 18,000 students uncertain. An investigative report by the Chamber of Deputies uncovered financial discrepancies in seven Chilean universities, including Universidad del Mar, in June.

“The situation we are seeing for 18,000 families is very grave,” said Diego Vela, president of the Student Federation of Universidad Católica (FEUC). “The dealings of a very small interest group is overriding the right to educate oneself.”

Months of scrutiny culminated in the arrest last weekend of Hector Zuñiga, former Universidad del Mar director, who allegedly bribed the councilor of the National Accreditation Committee (CNA), Luis Díaz, in order to maintain the school’s merits.

The Senate scheduled a special session to discuss the fate of the university’s students on Dec. 12. Fourteen senators implored the discussion, citing a “particularly grave” situation in which families had lost the confidence and resources they had invested into higher education.

“If we go to another university, we need to know that our futures are ensured,” said Carolina Barros, who studies social work at Universidad del Mar. “We also need to know that, if we graduate, our degrees will be valid.”

Displaced students have both academic and financial credit at stake, Barros said. Some are studying fields unique to the university, while others wonder whether the credit they have earned is eligible elsewhere.

- The Santiago Times