CAFA and other organizations signed the IPEN statement, reaffirming that “university autonomy is a fundamental pillar for the development of knowledge, innovation and critical thinking”.
The Asociación Iniciativa Puentes por los Estudiantes de Nicaragua (IPEN) has just released a statement in defense of university autonomy. The document calls attention to the fact that one year has passed since the arbitrary confiscation of the Central American University in Nicaragua (UCA), an action that added to the intervention of almost thirty private universities in the country.
According to IPEN, “the UCA was a national and regional reference for educational quality and free development of thought, and was the last academic space to support university autonomy in the country”. The statement points out that the confiscation of universities is a frontal attack on academic freedom and the Declaration of Inter-American Principles on Academic Freedom and University Autonomy of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). It also emphasizes that “university autonomy is a fundamental pillar for the development of knowledge, innovation and critical thinking”.
The CLAA subscribes to the document, along with the Central American Association of Philosophy (Acafi), the Costa Rican Association of Philosophy, the Nicaraguan Center for Open Education and Training Paulo Freire, Opportunities, Aula Abierta, the Intercultural Association of Human Rights, the Center for Transdisciplinary Studies of Central America, the Observatory of Universities and the Inter-American Legal Assistance Center for Human Rights.