1999 UNAM Strike - Background

Background

The third article of the Constitution of Mexico states that all education imparted by the state is free. Whether this includes decentralized, autonomous institutions of higher education like the UNAM is a matter of (often heated) debate. Tuition at the UNAM is not free, and it had last been raised in 1948 to 200 pesos per academic year (tuition became 20 cents in the 1993 currency revaluation); the amount is specified in the University bylaws, and changing it requires action by the University Council (a legislative body that comprises representatives of the faculty and students, and all directors of schools, faculties, and institutes). By 1999, inflation and the exchange rate meant that tuition amounted to about 0.02 US dollars. The quality of education of the UNAM, alma mater of several Latin American presidents had decayed since its glory days. At the time, UNAM had a budget of about one thousand million dollars, of which 90% was provided by the federal government.

In January 1999, Francisco Barnés de Castro, then rector of the UNAM, announced his intention to raise tuition. Attempts to raise tuition since 1948 had failed twice before, most recently in the late 1980s under Rector Jorge Carpizo MacGregor. Barnés proposed a number of reforms, including a tuition raise from about 0.02 dollars to about 150 dollars per academic year. Barnés promised the additional 48 million dollars the university would receive from the tuition increase would be used to fund more research and increase the quality of its facilities; the proposal also included a plan for tuition remission for students who signed a statement saying they could not afford the new rates.