Chilean students end occupation of iconic university campus

More than a month and a half after taking over Universidad de Chile’s administrative base, students hand the building back to the authorities.

After 49 days occupying Universidad de Chile’s Casa Central, protesting students surrendered the historic administrative building Monday, pledging to adopt a more active strategy in the months leading up to November’s presidential election. 

The move comes after a plebiscite Thursday, in which 51 percent of the student body voted to end the occupation, or “toma,” as university takeovers are known in the nation.

 

“Many candidates have already put forth slogans and phrases for their educational plans without offering the precise contents,” Andrés Fielbaum, president of the Student Federation of Universidad de Chile (FECH), told The Santiago Times. “If those contents are constructed by the technocrats as they always have been, no changes will come to pass. Because of this we have to save a certain amount of our energy for the coming months.”

- santiagotimes.cl