"Frente el ROTC": Anti-Militarist Protest at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras (1967-1971)

• In Event: Los desafíos a los sistemas educativos en tiempos de derechización

Abstract

From 1967-1971, protests interrupted everyday academic activities at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus (UPR-RP). Left-wing, pro-independence students demanded the expulsion of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) from campus, considering it to be an imposition of US-American imperial power in the island. Student activists, led by the Federación de Estudiantes Pro-Independencia (FUPI), protested alongside the Juventud Independentista Universitaria (JIU), and the UPR-RP’s Student Council in what became a reform movement against military presence on campus. Mobilizations from the late-1960s through the early-1970s became the most violent in the history of the UPR-RP, leading to police intervention and the deaths of policemen and students. This paper will explore this period in the history of the UPR-RP, considering both episodes of protest and debate regarding the ROTC’s place in an academic setting. It will argue that the Vietnam War was a key factor to radicalize the UPR-RP’s student body, leading to ample support from sectors of the university community beyond traditionally pro-independence activists. Moreover, it will consider anti-militarist mobilizations beyond the student movement, considering the influence of the UPR-RP’s faculty and administration on changes in university policy. Through this case study, the UPR-RP will serve as a case study regarding the Cold War’s influence in Puerto Rico. Moreover, this paper will show how the island can serve as a lens into the possible integration of anti-militarist protest to the study of Latin American student movements.

Author

• Aura S Jirau Arroyo, University of Pittsburgh