Moises Wasserman, headmaster of Colombia’s National University was kept inside his car against his liberty for six hours. As he attempted to leave campus, a group of 300 students surrounded Mr. Wasserman’s vehicle, and reportedly yelled insults and threats. The crowd demanded Mr. Wasserman’s presence at an auditorium so that he could explain the state of the University’s finances to the student body.
I know no professors who would accede to give presentations through coercion, so naturally, as most rational people would have done, the headmaster decided to stay inside his car (which happens to be armor-plated) and call for help from his cell phone. Being the head of Colombia’s largest public university, Mr. Wasserman’s SOS call was promptly responded by President Alvaro Uribe himself.
What happened later has been a source of controversy and bitterness between the national government and Bogota’s mayoralty. President Uribe ordered the police to enter the campus of the National University in order to protect Mr. Wasserman. Soon after, the crowd was dispersed and the headmaster returned to his office, where he gave a press conference.
In his statement, Mr. Wasserman qualified the situation as “a kidnapping” and “an infringement of rights”. President Uribe, who later visited the University, used stronger words in reference to the incident: “There was an act of force that deprived a person of his liberty, and that is understood as a kidnapping, and there were death threats […] When faced with a kidnapping the government has the obligation to intervene…” Members of Bogota Mayor Samuel Moreno’s administration see things a little bit differently. Clara Lopez, Bogota’s government secretary, was upset by the fact that the police was allowed to enter the campus. She also complained that a number of students who were in the crowd were taken into custody.
University independence is a sensitive topic in Colombia, as in many other places. In the name of keeping students safe from state coercion, the police and the army are barred from entering university campuses. Whenever they are trying to control a riot by National University students (and trust me, there are plenty of those), the police are obligated to do it from the outside –stepping in would create a legal and political storm of considerable proportions. Even if this makes the job of the police much more difficult, this is a healthy practice to an extent: it keeps the state out of the classroom, which makes us all better off.
But all rules have exceptions, and this week’s event was one of them. The restriction on police action in university campuses cannot be valid whenever a crime is being committed inside a university. To affirm the contrary is simply preposterous. If the property, integrity, liberty, or life of someone are in danger, the police has the obligation to intervene, even if this is occurring within the territorial limits of a university. At all times, rights to life, property, etc. supersede the universities’ right to be free from police presence, so that the infringement of the first one invalidates the second. There is clear evidence that Mr. Wasserman’s liberty was being violated by the angry mob, and the threats he reportedly received would indicate that his integrity was also in danger. Therefore, the police had the duty to act in order to return Ms. Wasserman to safety and capture those involved.
The issue is so clear to me, that I find it difficult to understand why there has been so much controversy. Ms. Lopez is clearly wrong in being more upset about the police entering to control the situation than she is about Mr. Wasserman having had to spend six hours confined in his car, the doors locked, wondering whether the people outside were going to lynch him. I am certain that if a multitude of citizens were to surround Ms. Lopez’s vehicle in anger, due, say, to the inefficiency of Bogota’s mayoralty, she would want the police to act as swiftly as possible regardless of her being inside or outside a university campus. In her statements on the situation, Ms. Lopez underscored that she was worried for those taken into custody because it wasn’t clear “where they had been taken, or what [the police] will do to them”. No need to worry, Ms. Lopez: the police probably drove them to a police station, where their names and declarations were takenas part of the investigation. If there were minors detained, as it indeed occurred, it is very likely that their parents were notified very soon. As a matter of fact, all of those taken into custody have been freed by now, although the investigation continues.
Two final reflections: First, the fact that the police entered the National University will probably work as a deterrent for future actions of this kind. No longer will anyone believe that the campus is completely out of reach for the police, and those interested in creating disorder will think twice before carrying out acts of violence or coercion. I applaud the President’s swift response. Second: although I understand the rationale behind the ban on police presence in universities, it is evident that the liberty campuses enjoy has had its own bad effects. This year, there was cocaine served at a public event at the National University, and attendees were videotaped sniffing it, encouraged by the main lecturer. The guerrillas have also infiltrated Colombian universities, indoctrinating students and using them as places to hide weapons and propaganda, as it was discovered a few years ago.
Nobody wants to see the police going into public universities. It is a bad sign when guns and anti-riot tanks are used in the very place where the future leaders of Colombia are being educated. As I said, keep the cops out of the classroom. But the universities must understand that their liberties, besides serving a purpose, have clear limits. When this purpose is being bypassed, and these liberties abused, corrective actions are necessary. I hope Colombia’s universities are wise enough to understand this simple fact.
tomtom33
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... I find it absurd that there is any kind of implicit restriction on police activities on any campus that is different from any other place in the country save foreign embassies. University kids live in an ivory tower as it is. Why should the rules of society differ for young dumb asses? And I was a young dumb ass on campus in the US during the Vietnam protests. We had Army National Guard troops patrolling on campus. Maybe it is not such a good idea to exempt these kids from State correction. Sooner or later they will have to deal with reality. |
Bluebird
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... tomtom..... I agree with you completely. It's pretty simple really. If the students behave themselves then there is no problem. If they don't then they can expect to see the police on campus. The laws against kidnapping ( or anything else) are not suspended on campus. I am sure there were a small handful of students who instigated this but students on campus tend to have "herd"" mentality just as people in general do. |
El Noruego
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... Very good and balanced article. Completely agree with the author. I admire your President for his swift actions and personal presence. I am surprised of the fact that he has to defend his actions on this matter. |
entre aguas
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... the actions of the student in the nacho have been framed in a very biased method . there is now contextulization of state of public university student movements in colombia for the last 5-10 years, not to mention the last 50. no mention of police violating university autonomy, not independence, at la nacho and other public universities. students used brute force in keeping the university headmaster in his car. sure this is wrong. though... lets put things in context. students 'kidnap' the headmaster for 6 hours yet not harming him compared to the accounts of dozens of students that have been killed or disappeared by states forces, mostly the esmad that remain in impunity. if student repression in colombia was the extent of what it was at kent state during vietnam, we would be having a very different conversation. but this is colombia where students, teachers and others are often killed for merely voicing their opinion in a political environment of state sanctioned political intolernace. check... http://www.humanas.unal.edu.co/prensaestudiantil/cronologia.htm |
gringomedellin
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... While I agree with police being kept off Uni property, they acted correctly this time, but it also leaves me with a question are their no Uni Police force to patrol the campus. Many US Uni's have their force to protect students and faculty and property, and if need be they can call for outside police help. Maybe the time has come for Colombia's Unis to put in place their on Police force. @ Auguas while there have been past issues of abuse of students, the article is about a single event on a campus. I can write here about a campus in Cali which closed a friends Uni for 6 months after studentsa riot there , burned/destoried most of the campus. |
entre aguas
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... university campuses in colombia usually have their own private security. this is for public and private universities. there have been accounts, such as from the the uis in bucaramanga as an example, of "demobilized" paramiliatires being given these jobs as security on campuses as a means of infiltrating and deystroying democratic student movements. killing and disappearing students and faculty. gringomedellin. that is the problem, this is being treated as an isolated incident when it is symtom of a state of repression. as for the paro that there was at univalle for 6 months. you should also mention that esmad entered the entire campus illegally on april 3, 2008, apprehended student andres palomino, accusing him with false charges of insurection and condemning him to 21 years of jail time. there have been no witness to andres particiapting in the tropel. though he was illegally arrrested on campus. andres, though is a witness to the esmad killing student johnny silva a couple of years ago. how can any of this be treated as an isloated incident? |
Adriaan
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... @ entraguas, I think we all agree that unlawful state violence is a bad thing, but does this only go for university campuses? Police brutality incidents happen everywhere in Colombia (and the rest of the world) and disallowing the authorities to enter universities to me just makes no sense, you then may as well ban them from football stadiums or any other public space. Not that I have researched this very well, but I can't think of any country where the police isn't allowed to enter university. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong though. |
andrew
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... @adriaan. When I was in Caracas some students told me that the police/army weren't allow into their Universities either. |
gringomedeliin
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... aguas, you say andres was sentenced to 21 years thus a court found him gulity of the charges. I don't see any illegal actions by the Police arresting someone who committed a crime. You may personal disagree with he conviction, but doesn't make it illegal. |
entre aguas
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... it is illegal andres was apprehended by esmad while on the campus. the colombian president is the only one allowed to give permission for state forces to go onto a campus. when the esmad took andres from univalle in 2007 there was no presidential permission. i am sure uribe supports the actions of the esmad though the rule of law that is suppose to give freedom was not respected in the one incident as in many others. while i do not agree with the state forces entering the nacho last week i do recognize that the constitution was actually not violated in that process. how can institutions of higher learning be compared to sporting events? students go to further their knowledge in not only their chosen profession but also their role as priviledged people with education in a country where few have that opportunity. the struggles and actions of the student movement are an attempt to be accountable to a population that should all have the opportunity to be students. accountability being something no colombian administration, especially uribe's has any concept of. as for countries that have university autonomy; venezuela, greece, ecuador, argentina, mexico, denmark, are the ones that turn up on google. many of these countries have laws regarding university autonomy, does not mean they respect their own rule of law. many other countries have had university autonomy but have changed the laws. |
gringomedeliin
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... Autonomy is needed for what? Does not the Colombia regulate what must be taught as part of different programs in order to receive a degree? and what about public Univ. that are funded with the peoples money how much freedom should they have on how they spend it with out government regulating? Coming from the USA way, the Univ both public and private have their on forces to provided security, If they need help they can call for outside assistance, not only to deal with security issues but other matters they are not set up to perform like a murder investigation. I understand the need for the laws in the past, when the Police were an extention of the government ( ie Police State) but wonder if they are still needed in today's Colombia. I remember reading I think about a year ago, of a problem on a campus in medellin where people were entering the campus to have sex with students in the bathrooms, in some cases for money, Should not the Police have the right to enter a campus if illegal activity was taking place that has nothing to do with studies. While I support a students right to learn without interference, they do not have the right to act outside the rule of law. |
