Public university march sees thousands protest across the country

Thousands of professors, administrative staff, students, and graduates marched across Argentina on Tuesday in the Fourth Federal University March to demand that the government comply with the university funding law approved last August. The government has filed an appeal with the judiciary in an effort to sidestep compliance. The matter now lies with the Supreme Court. Students and teachers from secondary schools, political parties, opposition leaders, and representatives of national labor unions also took part in the demonstration. Plus general public. Around midday, the first gatherings began in different parts of the country, with a central event at Plaza de Mayo. At 5 p.m., the national anthem was played first, followed by the reading of the main statement issued by university chancellors. What was said In a joint statement, the National Interuniversity Council (in Spanish, CIN), an organism grouping all national Argentine universities, and the sector’s unions urged the Supreme Court to intervene to “prevent the national government from continuing to violate” the law. The petition, titled Fourth Federal University March: 203 Days Without Implementing the Law for Public Universities and in Defense of Democracy, said that the university is “an instrument of social justice that produces upward social mobility, the place that harbors hope and makes the dreams of thousands of young people possible. CIN President Franco Bartolacci called for the allocation of funding for public universities in Argentina, saying the university funding law was a reasonable regulation for the sector because it offers answers without placing a fiscal burden on the state.  The university leader defended the value of upward social mobility provided by public higher education, arguing that equal access to education is a responsibility that does not allow for restrictions. The head of the CIN also stated that guaranteeing this right would allow equal opportunities for future generations. He highlighted the importance of ensuring that the children of workers continue to have the chance to become “engineers and architects” and that the national scientific community keeps producing vaccines and satellites. Bartolacci ended by saying that the mobilization also represents a defense of democracy and the rule of law, warning about the danger of setting harmful precedents if current legislation is not enforced. A message from the government According to the National Interuniversity Council (CIN), one of the organizations that called for the march, the Milei administration has imposed a 45% budget cut on public university funds since coming into office in 2023. The official La Libertad Avanza (LLA) account on X released a statement on early Tuesday calling the demonstration a political march engineered by the opposition. The post went on to say that the governments fiscal commitment was the justification for its decision not to implement the university funding law, claiming that it would amount to a total expenditure of AR$1.9 trillion [US$1.3 billion, at the official rate].