2023-09-18 13:36:00
Mexico City. The social fabric of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) needs to be restored through an attitude of listening, inclusion and dialogue with young people, who are still suffering from the physical and psychological effects left on them by the covid-19 pandemic, Luz said. by Carmen Vilchis Esquivel, former director of the former National School of Plastic Arts (ENAP), today the Faculty of Arts and Design.
Self-defined as a person with a multidisciplinary training and complex thinking, Vilchis – one of the five women participating in the race to occupy the Rectorate – proposes starting the decentralization of the highest house of studies, in such a way that it can expand a little more their registration and relieve the demand that is currently concentrated in Mexico City.
With multiple and diverse interests – ranging from graphic design to communication and philosophy, including psychology and neuroscience – the teacher and researcher also suggests seeking a budget increase especially designed to improve the salary situation of subject teachers. .
–In your work plan before the Governing Board you emphasize the need to dialogue without offending and to promote inclusion. Has that been lost in the university?
–In certain spaces of the university it is exercised, but there are some where it is necessary to work more with the students, who are an extremely sensitive generation. They show great hopelessness and anger towards the future, because they are generations that are waking up to life, but without a future, without horizons.
Due to the pandemic, we have many cases of effects on their physical, mental and emotional health, and it is not that they did not exist before, but anxiety, depression, and the sense of frustration have expanded. Giving virtual classes, I saw their dull looks, their sad and disappointed eyes. If they do not have at least a friendly context, they cannot write a thesis. We must exercise empathy and inclusion.
–Does the social fabric of the university have to be rebuilt?
-Yes absolutely. We have the structure of the loom and the warp, because the university has that strength, that essence that cannot be broken, which is its autonomy. We must weave finely, tie knots and tie to reinforce something that has been blurred in our community, which is that sense of certainty, of formation in values.
Study plans
–Is it necessary to modernize or make the study plans more flexible?
-Yeah. There are some laggards, which must be made more flexible, but in such a way that they can be enriched and changes can be made in form, without making major modifications in substance, because there are some that do not need to be updated like this.
–What do you think of the budget that the university has received and the possibility of expanding enrollment?
–I consider that the budget has been well exercised, considering that we have received the same amount for a few years, and it is always praiseworthy that with the same resources, the university grows and becomes stronger.
In relation to enrollment, some agencies have increased it as much as possible. We need a medium and long-term project to enrich peripheral and foreign entities, give them strength, decentralize and have viable spaces to open high school enrollment in certain nodal points of the Republic where there are already bachelor’s degrees. This is how the high schools of Mexico City would begin to unburden themselves.
–If you were rector, how would you resolve the salary demands of the subject teachers?
–The salaries of subject teachers are indeed very low. Anyone who teaches five to 10 hours a week does not eat, which is why they have to teach in many places or accept the hours that the entity can grant them. There are some who have 40 hours a week in front of a group, which is devastating, although with a fairly reasonable salary to survive.
“I think that with a panel of experts and a good cartography of the entire university, we have to go to the federal authorities and say ‘UNAM requires this budget,’ and we only want it to regularize the employment situation of all these professors who They support a large part of the groups throughout the university. “That would be a management issue to ask for more resources.”
–How do you see the issue of gender violence?
–The issue must be faced with very particular programs. The issue is not so simple, because the university cannot suddenly say these professors are leaving because they are accused. That’s not how things work and it’s very difficult for someone to have proof of harassment.
“It is an issue with many subtleties that must be handled. We must understand that there are cases where there is truly harassment, and we have experienced it as students and teachers, but there are no conditions to point out who is responsible. But it also lends itself to students saying ‘he gave me a 5 in the subject and now I’m going to accuse him of harassment’.
“You can destroy a life for something that was not done, or at the same time reaffirm a behavior that is being carried out. I would meet with the professors (named) and convene experts in psychology, neuroscience and sociology, to put together courses and campaigns in order to educate the community on issues of civility and mutual respect, and call on them not to put themselves in situations risky.
In addition, care programs can be launched for students who have suicidal ideas, due to the impossibility of reporting; to accompany young people through support networks so that they do not see the teachers who summon them alone, and to take students in special transport to safe public places, when they leave their classes late.
–Is UNAM ready for a female rector?
–No one is ready. It makes many people angry, because it moves their world. When I was director (of ENAP, from 2002 to 2006), there was not a day when they did not send me anonymous emails with insults, for the fact that I was a woman. It was more than considerable violence.
“Always opening a gap has its implications and I must be aware of them, but being a woman, of course I would give UNAM another perspective. I have a deep humanistic training; I do not claim to be a scientist, but I do claim to be a person with multidisciplinary training and complex thinking.
My training is as a graphic designer, but also in communication, philosophy, psychology and neuroscience. I believe that the university already deserves us women and we deserve to show the university that it is possible.
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