Identification with UNAM persists beyond its facilities, they say

Fernando Camacho Servin

Newspaper La Jornada
Saturday March 4, 2023, p. 13

Identity as a university student does not only depend on being on its central campus or on one of the many others that the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) has in the country, but also on the influence it has on the daily life of its graduates. beyond classrooms and laboratories.

Authorities and academics from the highest house of studies pointed out the above during the inauguration of the University Citizenship exhibition, in which the multiple meanings of being part of this higher education center are explored.

During the opening ceremony of the exhibition, held at the University Museum of Sciences and Art, the director of the Faculty of Architecture, Juan Ignacio del Cueto, pointed out that the aforementioned curatorial proposal moves us to understand the university beyond its buildings and understand what the sense of belonging to UNAM consists of.

Before the rector Enrique Graue -who did not speak-, the official stressed that the sample seeks to know how you live UNAM and what it means for you to belong to it, either as part of the student body, the worker base, the academic or administrative body, or simply having passed through its classrooms or being a regular visitor to its facilities.

For her part, Gabriela de la Cruz Flores, director of the University and Education Research Institute, highlighted that the exhibition takes place in the context of the 70th anniversary of the construction of Ciudad Universitaria (CU) and the 15th anniversary of the declaration of this campus as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The exhibition has a “suggestive” approach, since, unlike others on UC, it does not focus on architecture and the artistic expressions that characterize it, but on the notion of ‘university citizenship’, a complex category that focuses on people and educational processes. A vision that takes us beyond a territorial demarcation, to reflect on what it means to be a citizen or university citizen.

For his part, the Secretary General of UNAM, Leonardo Lomelí, recalled the years of the founding of CU and its wide academic and cultural offer, and pointed out that the exhibition will be open until July of this year, complemented by conferences, film screenings , publications and other activities.