Violation of University Law: UCV Vice Chancellor's Involvement in Red Cross Board Raises Concerns

2023-08-17 20:14:22

Professor representatives before the University Council of the Central University of Venezuela (UCV) They spoke on August 17 and expressed concern about the participation of the academic vice-chancellor, María Fátima Garcés, in the Red Cross supervisory board announced in the first week of the month.

“We want to record our concern about the participation of the academic vice-chancellor and, unofficially, the administrative vice-chancellor in the supervisory board of the Venezuelan Red Cross Society, ordered by the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme justice court“, they indicated in a statement.

They reiterated that the actions of the vice-rector go against the provisions of article 162 of the Universities Law, which establishes that the authorities must have the approval of the University Council before carrying out paid or voluntary activities during the exercise of their position.

They added that what happened cannot be assumed as a personal decision, which will not affect the image of the UCV.

“The importance of the matter forced the two rectory authorities to request the rector to convene an extraordinary university council to authorize their participation in that supervisory board. None of that has happened”, expressed the professorial representatives.

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The intervention violates rights

In the statement, they added that the decision of the TSJ and the structuring of the board is a serious violation of the right to freedom of association, the rule of law, due process and, in addition, it is part of a systematic state policy of closing the democratic spaces in the country.

“The ruling of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice intervenes a legal person under private law, dismisses its board without even listening to them and appoints an external person, without any connection to the institution, to constitute an oversight board,” they pointed out.

They recalled that the role of the authorities is to strengthen democratic values in the country and rescue the Central University, which is currently going through a budgetary crisis and teacher desertion.

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Alí Daniels, lawyer and director of Access to Justice, had already denounced on August 9 that Professor Garcés violated the Law on Universities a few weeks after being sworn in, amid the silence of Víctor Rago, the new rector of the UCV.

Professor Rago has not declared about the supervisory board and there is no official information from the house of studies to date.

“They accept an official agenda of intervention in the civic space. And the question is: those who do not defend the autonomy of civil society organizations, are they going to defend university autonomy?” Daniels told Cocuyo Effect.

The vice rector has not ruled on the accusations nor has she clarified whether she requested any authorization from the institution to which she belongs before accepting duties at the Red Cross.