the board of directors of medicine, almost empty and headed by the dean, juan angel basualdo farjat
With a semi-empty board of directors, the Faculty of Medicine of the National University of La Plata (UNLP) might not finalize the election of the dean yesterday and the session entered in intermediate room until tomorrow. This was because, as EL DIA had anticipated, of the 16 counselors that make up the body, half were absent: the 5 representatives of the student body and the 3 graduates hit the foul. Only the 7 professors and the non-teacher accompanied the dean, Juan Ángel Basualdo Farjat, who -for now without an opposition alternative- is seeking his re-election.
But those 8 presences were not enough for the quorum because the UNLP statute says that the first call to renew authorities in each faculty must be made with all the board members. Nor is that number enough for Basualdo, who needs 11 votes to be re-elected (or 9, in case he appoints a successor).
As has been indicated, the maximum authority of 120 and 60 would have 8 adhesions so far, that of the non-teacher and that of the professors, a faculty in which it achieved a unity list that includes several former members of Hoja de Roble, the group that led Medicine until 2018, when it was evicted by a broad opposition front that took Basualdo to the Deanery. The Peronist student body of Remediar, which today has the student majority and leadership of the Center, and the minority front that make up Vientos de Abajo (Patria Grande) and Unite (PCR) participated in that interclaustro alliance. And it is precisely on these 5 directors that Basualdo relies in order to revalidate his mandate.
The students, meanwhile, condition the quorum and their vote to a list of demands that, as they resolved last week, they will seek to deliver to the dean today, when they will meet once more in an assembly to share their concerns. The main one, to resume the practices and full presence suspended since the start of the pandemic, in addition to resolving the payment to tutors of the introductory course, an issue for which they will march tomorrow morning at the Rector’s Office.
“We are going to accompany the candidate who commits to solving the problems that we raise,” said from Remediar the president of the Medicine student center, Martina Novoa, who avoided anticipating whether the group will seat its counselors in tomorrow’s session: “I we will define following the assembly”, he said and that, beyond the fact that it is a teaching list with old members of Hoja de Roble that accompanies Basualdo, the decision to vote for him or not will depend on his commitment to the demands of the students.
Those who did anticipate their open rejection of the current management were the three radical graduates, absent yesterday from the Council of Medicine and who would not provide a quorum for tomorrow’s session either, with which the vote would end up being defined on Friday (holiday) or, no later than Monday.
More faculties
On the other hand, and away from the tension that surrounds Medicine these days, three UNLP faculties renewed authorities yesterday: the Observatory, where Amalia Meza was elected with the endorsement of 13 board members (and 3 blank votes); Veterinary and Dentistry, which unanimously re-elected Marcelo Pecoraro and Gabriel Lazo, respectively.