Morena seeks to reform UNAM a few months after the succession of rector Enrique Graue

There Rectorate of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) It will be renewed next November, the month in which Dr. Enrique Graue at the head of the highest house of studies, and drawn from the ranks of Morena, they are already looking to change the process for choosing the next rector.

This week, the Member of Parliament for Morena, Armando Contreras Castilloproposed a reform at UNAM to change the method of electing the rector, so that the board of directors is no longer responsible for appointing the successor to Enrique Graue, who has been the subject of criticism from Of the president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador around the minister’s affair Yasmine Esquivel.

Currently, Article 6 of the Organic Law of UNAM establishes that the Board of Directors, composed of 15 members, has the power to “appoint the Rector, know his resignation and dismiss him for serious cause”.

In this direction, Contreras Castillo, who is Morena’s national councilorproposes that with the modifications of the university legislation, the election of the person in charge of directing the highest chamber of studies is done by universal suffrage, that is to say that it is open to the whole community.

“The owner of presbytery will be elected by the university community by direct suffrage and by universal, free, secret, personal and non-transferable suffrage, in accordance with the procedures established for this purpose by the University Council, which must guarantee the principle of gender parity” , specifies the Morenista in its initiative.

It appears that there are two profiles close to Morena that are considered possible candidates for the presbytery of UNAM, it is the Dr Rosaura Ruiz Gutierrezwho since 2018 has served in the government of Claudia Sheinbaum as Secretary of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (Sectei) of Mexico City, a position he resigned last February.

His daughter’s name also transcended, Rosaura Martinez Ruiz full professor “A” at the College of Philosophy of the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the UNAM.

Among the possible candidates also sounds the name of the researcher and scholar, John Ackermann, one of Morena’s main promoters at national level, although there has also been speculation that his wife might be a candidate, Irma Erendira Sandoval, who belonged to the cabinet of López Obrador.

The Rector is the born head of the University, its legal representative and President of the University Council and lasts for four years, but can be re-elected once, in the case of Dr Graue his first term began in 2015.

To be a rector, one must be Mexican by birth; be over 36 and under 70 at the time of the election. In addition, they must hold a university degree above the bachelor’s degree and have at least a decade of teaching or research service at the university.

With regard to merits, the candidate must have distinguished himself in his specialty by the publication or execution of works of recognized merit and enjoy general esteem as an honorable and prudent person.

The Rector will ensure strict compliance with the provisions of the Governing Board and those enacted by the University Council. It will be able to veto agreements of the Council itself, which are not of a technical nature.

In addition, the rector has the power to constitute shortlists of directors of faculties, schools and institutes, which are voted on by the board of directors as a whole.

In his morning lectures, President López Obrador argued that UNAM had shifted to the right.