Posters against the Rector of the National University
Photo: El Espectador – José Vargas
On the morning of this Thursday, June 6, the Higher University Council (CSU) of the National University met after the Ministry of Education called an extraordinary session with a single point on the agenda: define the situation of the rectory of the squad. Finally, at 2:00 pm the CSU will appoint a rector from among the five candidates who had passed the consultation.
The meeting was scheduled for 8:00 am, however, for a little more than 40 minutes the eight members of the council debated the permanence in the session of José Ismael Peña, who was appointed by the CSU as rector of the institution last March 21st.
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The main reason, according to Diego Torres, teacher delegate at the CSU, was that the Vice Minister of Higher Education, Alejandro Álvarez, who also presides over the session, did not authorize the start of the meeting until Peña declared himself as “ invited and not as a member or leave the meeting.”
This, Torres added, despite the fact that “five councilors asked to start the session.” After a little more than 40 minutes of deliberation, Vice Minister Álvarez began the session and put Peña’s permanence to a vote, who ended up leaving the meeting.
After starting, Vice Minister Álvarez proposed that the vote be held for a rector in charge and suggested that it be chosen between Leopoldo Múnera, Raúl Sastre, Juan Pablo Duque, Germán Albeiro Castaño and José Ismael Peña, who were the candidates for the rectorship that They had the highest vote in the consultation carried out with the university community.
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Given the proposal, Ignacio Mantilla, representative of the former rectors at the CSU; Verónica Botero, representative of the Academic Council, and Torres issued a statement. They pointed out that will abstain “from voting on said decision due to the potential risk that our conduct can be adapted to disciplinary offenses and classify alleged crimes as malfeasance and fraud of judicial resolution, as well as disregarding firm constitutional decisions.”
One of the decisions that the counselors are talking about is that of the 37th Administrative Court of the Judicial Circuit of Bogotá, which ordered the overturning of resolution 7480 of 2024, which ordered the CSU to appoint a rector in charge. This decision is the response to a guardianship filed by Peña.
Also, in your X Torre accounts recused, for participating in Múnera’s campaign, to Victor Moncayo, designated by the National Council of Higher Education (CESU), Laura Quevedo, student representative, and to the Government delegates, María Alejandra Rojas and Danna Garzón. “To ask to remove them from the designation process I base myself on article 11 of the CPACA, specifically on paragraphs 8, 11, 16,” added Torres.
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Quevedo, in response to Torres, assured in his X account that he has “exercised my right to free expression and that participating in broad spaces for discussion with the community confers a conflict of interest.” Furthermore, he pointed out that the CSU discussed each of the challenges and, in the end, “they were rejected by a majority vote.”
Other complaints that Torres claimed were that the Ministry of Education, headed by Vice Minister Álvarez, did not allow Jaime Iván Peña, legal director of the National, to enter and who was at the CSU meeting where Peña was appointed as rector.
However, after several minutes of deliberation, the legal director was allowed to enter. In his intervention he explained why the session that was taking place was irregular. The first thing he pointed out is that “there is no support for the irregularities that the ministry claims took place in the March 21 session. Nor was the documentation provided in advance to be able to make a decision and there are interventions from the Attorney General’s Office and guardianships that support the appointment of Peña as rector.”
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ANDThe ministry, for its part, presented a resolution to the CSU in which, as the document reads, “the irregularities found in the administrative action for the appointment of the rector that took place in the session of March 21, 2024 are verified and corrected and new provisions are issued for his appointment for the period 2024 – 2027″.
With the presentation of this document, The portfolio put for consideration, once again, the five resumes of the candidates that passed the consultation and said resolution is submitted for consideration. According to Torres, as well as him, Verónica Botero and Ignacio Mantilla assure that they do not agree with this, which is why Vice Minister Álvarez requests a new extraordinary meeting on this Thursday afternoon.
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It should be remembered that the CSU is chaired by the Vice Minister of Higher Education, Alejandro Álvarez; María Alejandra Rojas and Danna Garzón, Government delegates; Laura Quevedo, student representative; Víctor Moncayo, CESU delegate; Diego Torres, teacher representative; Ignacio Mantilla, representative of the former rectors; and Verónica Botero, representative of the Academic Council.
The news did not go down well with some former rectors of the National University. Moisés Wasserman, for example, spoke in his X account: “I am deeply ashamed of others. The vice minister of education, who until recently was rector; “Former rector Moncayo, how can they subject the National University to political power?”
