| This study is a historical analysis of the relationship between the University of Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rico Civil Rights Commission (formerly the Puerto Rico Civil Rights Committee) during the 1950s and the 1960s. During this period, there was a climate of reform at the University, which echoed island-wide reforms. The analysis of the relationship between the Puerto Rico Civil Rights Commission and the University of Puerto Rico constitutes a case study of the relationship and interaction of higher education institutions with external entities in the pursuit of institutional change. This work discusses the ability of the Commission to provoke change at the University and explores some salient features of the interaction between the two institutions, i.e., the Commission's reframing of issues and controversies using a civil libertarian perspective, the dual roles of commissioners and university officials as intellectuals and policy makers, and the Commission's commitment to empowering all university constituencies, especially faculty and students.;The study analyzes how during this period constituents revisited issues of autonomy, participation, governance, and the role of public higher education. It also examines how political parties, the island's legislature, and public service institutions joined university reform efforts and claimed educational improvement and redistribution of power. The study seeks to demonstrate that the university reform movement evolved through four phases with distinct features: formulation of ideas and creation of advocacy groups, narrowing issues and developing a blueprint for reform, reaching consensus about changes in legislation and bylaws, and implementing the changes. It also contends that many changes were advanced by the Commission's ability to help university constituencies through the transformation. |
