The University of Puerto Rico: Political control and university development, 1903 to 1952

The University of Puerto Rico (UPR) was founded by the United States (U.S.) Government in 1903, five years after the U.S. military occupation of Puerto Rico. As part of the public education system, the UPR was under the direct authority of the U.S. Government, which included the colonial government established in Puerto Rico, for the entire period covered by this work. Since its founding the University of Puerto Rico has experienced frequent periods of institutional unrest and instability. Incessant conflicts among those responsible for governing the institution, high turnover of faculty and administrators, numerous student protests, antagonism over university funding, and refusal of accreditation are some of the challenges faced by the University during the period under study. While universities elsewhere have also experienced significant challenges, the frequency and seriousness of those faced by the UPR presented the institution with a constant threat to its very existence.;The primary research area that I set to investigate was the way in which governmental participation in university affairs influenced the operation and development of the University of Puerto Rico from 1903--1952. At the time of initiating this research my thesis was that the institutional instability and unrest faced by the UPR from 1903 to 1952 was the result of the manner in which the federal government of the United States, and the colonial government established in Puerto Rico by the United States, interfered and controlled the administrative and academic affairs of this public institution of higher education.;The evidence that I have found points to an institution excessively controlled by external governmental and political forces. The same evidence suggests that such degree of external control negatively affected the development of the University, particularly in the areas of governance, academic and student affairs, finance and accreditation. In my opinion the evidence, which will be presented throughout this study, supports my initial thesis that the instability and unrest experienced by the UPR during this period was to a great extent the outcome of the degree of political and governmental control experienced by the institution.