Students of the state-run University of Puerto Rico (UPR) have sustained a student strike that enters its 50th day today. On this decisive day, the students’ National Negotiating Committee has another round of negotiations with the UPR's administration. Students have transmitted their second message to the country via the website UPR es un País [ES] in which they explain their proposals: Ten of the 11 campuses of the UPR -in which approximately 62,000 students are enrolled- have been paralyzed in protest against massive budget cuts and the elimination of fee waivers that would unfairly affect low-income students with federal grants and talented students (in academics, sports and arts). Students have been living inside the UPR's main campus in Río Piedras -with 22,000 students registered- which has become the focus of demonstrations, artistic performances, urban agriculture, and academic workshops. (Please see Global Voices’ Special Coverage page) Students in Río Piedras. Photo by Ricardo Alcaraz from Diálogo. Republished under a CC License. Students raise funds for three non-profit organizations. Photo by Ricardo Alcaraz from Diálogo. Republished under a CC License. There have been a number of violent confrontations with police special forces at the Hotel Sheraton [En], the Río Piedras and Aguadilla campuses, and outside the UPR's central administration. Students and parents have been beaten and arrested. The pro-statehood Governor Luis Fortuño imposed a “mediator” to intervene in the conflict, the Episcopalian Minister David Alvarez, who was rejected by the students [ES]. The student strike has catalyzed a national civil society movement that has supported them throughout these 50 days. Students have also creatively used online media and Internet-based radio to speak for themselves (please see Global Voices’ compilation of online citizen media resources). "The UPR wants peace." Photo by Ricardo Alcaraz from Diálogo. Republished under a CC License. The students’ National Negotiating Committee has been negotiating with the UPR administration. They have made important advances: the UPR's Board of Trustees changed the language of the Certification 98 regarding the fee waivers so that students will not be penalized. Two fundamental issues remain on the table [ES]: the elimination of the recent UPR's proposal of imposing a special fee of $1,100 per semester in addition to the registration costs, and the guarantee that the administration will not incur any disciplinary actions against the students who have participated in the strike. In the meantime, an interesting and passionate debate is taking place online. Historian and UPR professor Carlos Pabón questions the strategic usefulness of continuing the strike [ES] and of closing the campus: Lo que viene en término de políticas hacia la Universidad es mucho más que lo está en juego en los reclamos de la huelga. Los estudiantes en huelga deberían consolidar y certificar lo que han logrado hasta ahora (que son algunas de sus demandas principales), proclamar un triunfo y levantar la huelga, dando paso a que se abra la Universidad. De lo contrario, se corren el riesgo de quedar entrampados en la estrategia del gobierno, que es quién apuesta al cierre de la Universidad y en este escenario lo que nos espera será nefasto (ya ayer se anunciaron algunas medidas de recortes presupuestarios y reducciones salariales que tendrán efectos drásticos sobre los distintos componentes de la Universidad). Cada día que pasa este escenario se hace más probable, pues el tiempo y el cierre favorecen al gobierno y a la alta administración universitaria. In the comment section of Pabón's post in La Acera [ES and EN], graduate History student, activist and blogger Iván Chaar-López [ES] argues that students have unveiled the administration's project and urges professors to make proposals [ES]: Si bien puede ser cierto que la huelga viabiliza el proyecto destructivo de la administración universitaria y el gobierno, también es cierto que la huelga ha desenmascarado el programa. En ese sentido, la huelga ha viabilizado la articulación de resistencias en cada sector comunitario de la Universidad. Los profesores no se habían expresado ni habían producido documento alguno sobre la anti-democracia y la implosión del proyecto universitario hasta que los estudiantes rompimos con el ritmo monótono del curso lectivo. Desde esta perspectiva, la huelga ha abierto camino para reflexionar y pensar la Universidad desde otras coordenadas. "The UPR is not on sale," by Brazilian artist Carlos Latuff. Latuff authorizes his drawings to be republished.