The UNR university community was the center of attention for a day of protests for a budget update and better salaries. The crowded seats were replicated across the country.
The citizens of Rosario supported the protests of public universities against the Financing Law and the salary arrears that keep university professors and non-professionals in jeopardy. Since morning, some 10 signatures were collected to support the presentation of the new bill to the Chamber of Deputies. They then marched through downtown Rosario and converged in a massive rally in Montenegro Square. The leaders of the organizations representing the university community expressed the critical situation facing the university. Universidad Nacional de Rosario (UNR) to operate every day, in addition to the deteriorating salaries of workers and the lack of responses that foreshadow a worsening outlook for the second semester. The same demand was felt in the different cities across the country where a national university operates, reflecting the federal nature of this protest.
The day began early in Pringles Plaza, where signatures were collected to support the University Financing Bill, which is awaiting consideration in a special session of the Chamber of Deputies on July 2nd. At the four corners, in various tents, people were welcomed to sign their names and surnames for the discussion of the university budget, which was vetoed last year and is now seeking a new opportunity to set guidelines to guarantee the functioning of higher education institutions across the country.
An open discussion was also held in Plaza Pringles, a panel discussion in which professors, researchers, non-teaching staff, deans from various faculties, and student representatives discussed the dire situation facing various sectors of the university community, the need to resume infrastructure projects, strengthen scholarships, and resume suspended research. Just after noon, a crowd gathered and marched toward Plaza Montenegro, expressing their discontent with applause, banners, or simply by showing up to join this federal day of action in defense of public education. The event featured remarks by Agustina Rosso of FUR (Fur), Federico Gayoso of Coad (Coad), Sergio Acuña of Apur (Apur), and the Rector of the UNR, Franco Bartolacci. Also present was Apur's Secretary General, Miguel Roldán.
Rector Bartolacci emphasized the strength of the meeting, both in Rosario and throughout the country. “This is a meeting, a rally, another step in the long march that Argentina's history has marked for the Public University and the nation's science. We have perhaps one of the richest qualities in the university environment: our diversity. We are many, and we think very differently on many issues, and we complement that richness with the most sacred value we possess, which is what allowed us to get this far. Have no doubt, it is what will allow us to continue forward: strength, which restores unity, recognizing each other beyond the diversity of those nuances of thought that make us rich, recognizing each other under the same flag. And that flag is what restores that history, that long march to which thousands of Argentines have joined hands, and which, whenever necessary, returns to the forefront as a collective to point out to whomever is needed that public education is not a game, public universities are not a game, and national science is not a game either.”
“We are a little worse off in every aspect than we saw last year. We haven't resolved the operating budget issue, which has been reduced by almost 100% since the increase we received and the inflation rate recorded in November 2023 to date. We have no answers regarding the more than 100 projects that are paralyzed across all of the country's universities and scientific system. We have no answers when we ask for updates to our student assistance programs, which, as you know, are often decisive for someone being able to continue their university career. The situation of the scientific system, which is much more serious than that of the university system, worries us because we care about science, because 70% of the country's scientific output is generated and developed,” he added.
Bartolacci warned about the precariousness the system is suffering: "In our universities, we are losing very valuable human resources; we are discontinuing research lines and projects. What is happening is unforgivable, if not reversed in time, and what is most distressing and unforgivable, given the efforts our teachers make to continue guaranteeing the right to study, the efforts our workers make to keep the university open all day, the efforts our researchers make to ensure science generates things that transform what is happening to our country. The mistreatment, the disregard, the precarious salaries to which 80% of teaching and non-teaching staff below the poverty line are subjected, and almost 5% of university teaching staff nationwide have resigned in the last year.
Faced with this grim scenario, where we also have to endure, if that weren't enough, the ongoing systematic mistreatment that attempts to delegitimize us, we still choose to respond with that unity that makes us strong, also with rationality and responsibility. To find a solution. We continue to appear before the national authorities; we will go as many times as necessary, but we decided to go to the National Congress, which is the one with jurisdiction in a republic, to decide on budgetary matters. And we do so with a law that solves the problem structurally."
"This federal demonstration by the university and scientific community is to defend the public university system, which once again called on Argentine society to support the university financing law with its signature, thus gathering more than one million signatures to support the bill in Congress," he stated.
In closing, the Rector addressed the Santa Fe legislators. "I want to ask the representatives of the province of Santa Fe to provide a quorum for a special session of Congress on July 2nd. This is important because university funding is at the top of the agenda. What that session should do is convene the budget and education committees so they can issue an opinion on the bill, but for that, a quorum is required. And especially to the representatives who were trained at public universities, many of whom are public university professors, we ask that you understand the seriousness of the situation and act accordingly."
APUR Press Secretary Sergio Acuña spoke on behalf of the non-teaching sector: “We are calling for a new university financing law that will settle all the debts the State owes to the higher education system. That is why we are emphasizing the importance of being united, all together, and having the support of all of society. Today, the university is in crisis; today, non-teaching workers have an 80% salary cut, and this government continues to force us into a non-existent collective bargaining agreement. It doesn't invite us to discuss; it imposes a 1% ceiling on the collective bargaining agreement, and we can't make ends meet. Today, a basic salary for a non-teaching staff member just starting out is 500 pesos.”
The head of COAD, Federico Gayoso, praised the support of the people of Rosario: "Outside the university community, society places great value on the Argentine university system, which explains the massive turnout of the two marches last year and the support we have today. Right now, everything at the University is at risk. We are truly fighting for the survival of the Argentine university system. The salary of a newly inaugurated professor is 740.000 pesos; with that, if you're lucky, you pay rent and some food; you can't lead a decent life. It becomes more difficult every day to conduct research and outreach. A biochemistry colleague said today that they are juggling reagents in the lab to be able to carry out their daily research work, which also contributes to their teaching, because a new discovery is made that is later applied to practical work. We are in a situation bordering on tragedy."
The president of the Argentine University Federation (FUA), Joaquín Carvalho, highlighted the massive turnout across the country. “In each of the more than 60 universities in the country, there was a day in defense of the public university, marches, public classes, symbolic embraces, and a collection of signatures. This demonstrates the federal nature of the university system, which is a source of pride around the world and is currently at risk. We need to reach one million signatures and, on July 2, secure the summons of the committees in the Chamber of Deputies session for a ruling. We need a university financing law now.”
Finally, representing the students, Agustina Rosso, president of the Rosario University Federation (FUR), predicted a complex second half of the year with more protests: "We will have to propose a plan of joint action, as we did last year. We will continue working with all the student organizations also focused on the same issue and also think of a plan for the second semester to involve society at large in this law and also to exert pressure on everything that is discussed in Congress so that the discussion is truly serious and well-founded."