University Under Siege

Few law students at Mexico City's National University cared for Dean Cesar Sepulveda's ideas. Not only did he demand regular class attendance but he also required students to take examinations. And he even had the temerity two months ago to suspend two students who made failing grades. Basta! The 7,000 law students went on strike. Last week the strike exploded into a full-scale riot.

The fighting broke out after a delegation of 15 law students went to call on the university rector, Dr. Ignacio Chavez, who supported the dean's disciplinary measures. Instead, the delegation was arrested. Within hours, many of the university's 70,000 students picked up clubs and bicycle chains to battle the hard-pressed campus police. City cops stood by off campus, barred by federal law from entering school grounds. Some students took over the university's radio station, while others seized major buildings on the architecturally famed campus. When night fell, a group of students broke into the rector's office, forced Dr. Chavez to scribble a letter of resignation by lamplight. Thirty-five other faculty members, including Dean Sepulveda, resigned with him.

Founded in 1551, Mexico's National University is one of the Western Hemisphere's oldest--and probably its most troublesome. It has been closed by strikes and riots more times than some of its students can count. Emperor Maximilian, in fact, abolished it entirely in 1865, and not until 1910 was it revived. Since then, while some students have gone on to become internationally recognized architects, physicians and teachers, others have majored in mayhem, cutting classes, tossing out professors and spouting left-wing propaganda.

Nor did the students last week appear ready to call off the uprising. They refused to hand back the buildings until a new rector to their liking was named. They also demanded a voice in the selection of the faculty and curriculum, economic aid for poor students, and a rule that no student be expelled without a hearing. Then, the students called on 15 private schools in Mexico City, including the American and British high schools, to close down as well. The schools complied out of sympathy--or dread.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.