UPR professors leave meeting in protest for place granted to university president

Representatives of the teaching sector of the 11 premises of the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) left this morning a meeting with the university administration in refusal to grant a place as a professor to the president of the academic institution, Jorge Haddock Acevedo.

The 11 cloister representatives before the University Board of the UPR had been summoned to a “cloister academic meeting”, in which also would participate the rectors of the academic units and the president of the UPR, detailed the cloister representative of Riu Pedres , Jorge Colom.

“When the meeting began – we had agreed and we did – we announced that we left the meeting in protest of the action of the Board of Governors to grant a position with the rank of professor to Jorge Haddock in violation of the Law University and the Regulations (General of the UPR) “, narrated the professor.

Last month, the Governing Board awarded Haddock Acevedo the position of professor which, at the time of his recruitment in 2018, it was agreed that he would receive if he completed two years in office and obtained satisfactory performance evaluations. When he was appointed president, Haddock Acevedo was not part of the UPR faculty.

The university community has complained that the Governing Board does not have the power to grant teaching posts. The General Regulations of the UPR state that teachers must be evaluated by the staff committees of the faculties and departments in which they will be appointed. The Administrative Board of each site is the body that grants or denies permanence, subject to the evaluations it receives.

Although the regulations provide for exceptions for granting ranks or promotions to teachers on extraordinary merits, none of the alternate avenues detailed in the regulations confers on the Governing Board the authority to grant them. In fact, it is the governing body that makes the final determination in case of controversy.

Colom has detailed that the place awarded to Haddock Acevedo will be in the Department of Management of the Faculty of Business Administration of the enclosure of Rio Pedres.

“This staff committee has not seen anything, it did not participate, it was not consulted … We have in the university cases of teachers who are without places, who have been for years, and are not given any place. And if they were given , they should go through all the processes. But for the president they ignored everything. It’s not fair, “the cloister leader expressed.

Members of the Governing Board have pointed out, however, that they had to comply with the award of the post because it is a contractual provision.

Columbus argued that Haddock Acevedo himself had objected to receiving the rank of hands from the Governing Board.

“He should have said ‘I have to abide by the regulations of the university, this is not the way.’ He participates in the meetings of the Governing Board, he endorsed this ultra vires action. top leader of the university, what happens to him above the regulations of the institution he runs? “, said Colom.

Faced with this situation, the representatives of the faculty and the student sector before the University Board have called on the academic senates of each campus to express themselves on the controversy in an effort to reverse the decision of the Governing Board.