Leonardo Lomelí Vanegas becomes the new rector of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). The candidate was appointed by the Governing Board, the body made up of 15 academics that voted to succeed current Rector Enrique Graue. Of the 27 candidates who entered the race and the 10 candidates who were shortlisted, the board voted by a qualified majority for the 53-year-old Lomelí for the period 2023-2027, with the possibility of re-election for a second term . The new rector will take office on November 17th.
Although the historian and economist was always considered the next rector in the polls, the election was not without tension and is already one of the longest deliberations in the history of the UNAM. It took the board four days to reach an agreement on the election of the new rector after a difficult vote in which the candidate did not receive the necessary votes in the first round, say sources consulted by this newspaper. It is not the first time that Lomelí has sought the office; In 2015 he also ran in the election, which Enrique Graue won.
Despite the university’s autonomy, the closed-door vote was marked by the importance of the next presidential elections in 2024 and the relationship between UNAM and the government. In his first words after learning of the verdict, Lomelí appeared ready for dialogue and referred to President López Obrador. “There is a willingness to engage in dialogue with the government. The President said that he is interested in UNAM and that the university will always provide space for cooperation and dialogue for the good of the country,” he noted. He also said he was convinced the country’s next candidates for government would have a “good attitude” to promote greater support for science, technology, culture and education.
Lomelí Vanegas has been part of Enrique Graue’s team in recent years. In 2015 he was appointed general secretary, a position of trust close to the rector. When asked by the press about his university project, Lomelí indicated that there would be continuity with his predecessor and that, at the same time, changes would be made for the good of the university. “The institution must know how to preserve, but it must also recognize changes and process them without fuss and in the most careful way,” he assured.
He has been a professor since 1994 and was director of the Faculty of Economics for five years, between 2010 and 2015. In 2002 he received the Alfonso Caso Medal as the most outstanding graduate of the master’s program in history and in 2003 he received second place in the Jesús Silva Herzog Prize for Economic Research, awarded by the Institute for Economic Research. His research focuses on the history of Mexican economic policy, the political economy of development and Mexican social policy.
In his first post he also spoke about the controversy surrounding the thesis of the Minister of the Supreme Court, Yasmín Esquivel. This Wednesday, UNAM obtained an injunction against the ban on the publication of the statement on the alleged plagiarism. The elected rector has stated that there are still several appeals to be resolved in this regard and that once these are resolved, “legal action” will be taken. In addition to these statements, he also expressed his opinion in an interview with EL PAÍS that it would be most desirable to publish this information. “I think this is consistent with what is common among university students,” he said a few weeks ago. “It is very serious when situations of lack of academic integrity come to light. It was definitely a shock that we suffered. I believe that while there is already a legal framework to prevent and punish this type of behavior, the problem lies much deeper. It is about educating our students and teachers so that they are aware of the seriousness of this situation,” he explained.
Among the issues of particular concern to the new rector is correcting the “imbalances” caused by the 55 percent increase in UNAM enrollment. This Thursday he reaffirmed his interest in the Abitur within the university and stated that he was against charging students fees. “We need to pay more attention to high school. We need to strengthen our support systems for students because the majority come from households with an income of less than four minimum wages per month. Additionally, the student body is more vulnerable from an emotional perspective. “This has to do partly with the pandemic, but also with the crisis of uncertainty that the country is experiencing and with a crisis of expectations,” he noted in an interview.
In the same conversation, Lomelí explained that he was “very motivated and with more experience” to take on the position of rector of one of the most prestigious universities in Latin America. The new rector must manage a universe of more than 400,000 people in which students, workers, teaching and administrative staff live together. In addition, they must address several challenges that have characterized UNAM in recent years, including the increase in complaints about gender-based violence, funding problems, budget cuts, improvements in curricula, improvements in staff salaries, the modernization of its facilities and friction with the government, to name just a few.
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