UNIVERSITY OF GUADALAJARA - A LEFTIST ICON'S NEW PRAGMATISM

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SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KPAO SCUL ECON PREL MX
SUBJECT: UNIVERSITY OF GUADALAJARA - A LEFTIST ICON'S NEW PRAGMATISM

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1. Summary: Slowly but surely the left-leaning and often
anti-U.S. University of Guadalajara is adopting a more practical
relationship with the Consulate and USG. As the second-largest
public university in Mexico, the University is closely tied to
the state library and hospital and owns several businesses.
Getting along better enables us not only to co-sponsor courses,
research and exchanges, but also to better shape faculty and
student opinion about the U.S. End Summary.


2. Over the past several years Consulate Guadalajara's work
with the University of Guadalajara has increased dramatically,
demonstrating a new openness on the part of the University's
leaders and faculty. While leftist and often publicly anti-U.S.
in the past, the state university had always sent its faculty to
study in the U.S. and sought opportunities for exchanges there,
recognizing the value of U.S. education and research. The
University is home to 190,000 students, 12,000 faculty, and is
the largest employer in the state of Jalisco. It manages 14
campuses plus a virtual campus and owns 16 corporate
enterprises, including a language school, school for foreign
students, publishing house, an enormous new auditorium, and the
largest Spanish-language book fair in the world (the Feria
Internacional del Libro or "FIL" by its Spanish acronym). The
local press often criticizes these non-academic efforts, but no
one can deny the international attention they bring to
Guadalajara.

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What's changed?
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3. USG overtures to the University of Guadalajara reach back a
number of years, including the donation of Consulate
Guadalajara's Benjamin Franklin Library collection to the
University in 1995. Since 2004 the University has won three
USAID scholarships for partnerships with U.S. universities
focused on the environment and economic development. In 2006
the U.S. Ambassador signed a Memorandum of Understanding with
the University to strengthen ties, and the University formally
established a long-overdue Center for North American Studies.
The USG supported the University's videoconference participation
in a U.S. Studies course in Mexico City in spring 2007. About
300 students cordially received U/S Karen Hughes when she spoke
about journalism and international relations during her February
visit to Guadalajara, and in recent months the Consulate hosted
several groups of University students for tours and discussions
of U.S.-Mexican relations.


4. This year's FIL (November 24-December 2),attended by over
half a million people from throughout the Americas, captured the
essence of our new relationship. High-level participation by
the National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Dana Gioia in
several events, along with other USG-sponsored speakers, caught
FIL President (and former University Rector) Raul Padilla's
attention, and he talked with Mr. Gioia about the possibility of
inviting a U.S. city to be the FIL's special guest for 2009.
Also during the FIL, the University and the International Center
for Journalists (ICFJ) in Washington announced the 2008 opening
of a Center for Digital Journalism, a training center for all
Mexico and Latin America. ICFJ brought well-known experts for
the FIL's Journalism Roundtable on this subject, which attracted
300 journalists and students. In all these events, the
University gave USG officers prominent seats at the table and
featured them in its campus newspaper.

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What's behind the new attitude?
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5. Competition is driving the University's change of heart,
along with the ambitions of its top leadership. Guadalajara's
top four or five private universities have expanded their
programs, often touting international studies and experience as
a drawing card for student enrollment. They also attract
private investment and cooperative research and exchange
programs from U.S. universities. The University of Guadalajara
is large, but it's not the only player in a field that includes
universities with national campuses and reputations, such as Tec
de Monterrey, not to mention Mexico's national university, UNAM.


6. Last month the University of Guadalajara announced
competency requirements in English for most disciplines, another
long-awaited measure, given that a lack of English speakers
limits employment opportunities in Guadalajara's high-tech
industry. Ambitious University leaders with ties to U.S.
institutions want to get to know their neighbor better in order
to build their programs or seek private sponsorship. The
current Rector Carlos Briseqo speaks English and studied for his
Master's degree in the United States. Fulbright and other
exchange programs have played a role; the Consulate database
registers 21 former Fulbrighters at the University of
Guadalajara. Younger faculty, who came of age after the
communist heydays of the 1970s, want to connect to U.S. academic
circles and push the University in different directions. This

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pragmatic approach -- that better ties with the U.S. will help
develop the University, bringing more investment and prestige -
gives the University an added dimension.


7. Briseqo, who has shared the podium with the Consul General
and Public Affairs Officer at numerous events, tells us he wants
to further expand our cooperation as part of his effort to
reorient the university as an engine of development for western
Mexico. This includes more emphasis on English instruction,
outreach to the business community, and dialogue with the
government. Another sign of the University's pragmatism was its
decision to sell naming rights to its huge new auditorium to
Telmex - unthinkable ten years ago.

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Who cares?
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8. The FIL, the state Library and University Cultural Center
(the latter two under construction),as well as the University's
academic departments provide the USG with an unprecedented
opportunity to improve linkages and expand relations through
education, cultural activities, exchanges and joint research.
Dialogue across disciplines and at all levels, especially with
young people, is key to reducing prejudices in this traditional
part of Mexico that often distrusts the U.S. at the same time it
sends thousands of migrants north and depends on the U.S. for
trade. We now have an open invitation to use the University as
a platform for that dialogue. We may not have fully changed the
political opinions of the majority of students or faculty, but
we've struck an alliance to work together on important areas of
mutual benefit. There's still a long way to go in western
Mexico, but this trend is definitely positive.
RAMOTOWSKI