The Rector’s address on the occasion of the presentation of the Festivities Program for Commemorating the National University’s 100th Anniversary

In today´s Mexico, it is vital to understand that within plurality and diverse opinion, it is possible to reach consensus around essential values, said UNAM Rector Jose Narro Robles.

In the ceremony held to present Festivities Program for Commemorating the National University’s 100th Anniversary, he said problems exist, but that it is important to tell society that the Nation has a bright future, because it has institutions such as the UNAM, which in wholly committed to country’s best causes.

With regard to the centennial celebrations, he said: “We are celebrating because we must reassert some of the values that have formed the University and its community.”

We are going to celebrate and assert the importance of the liberty in its varied forms: thought, speech, action, inquiry, dissent, accord and academic freedom itself.

Speaking in theAlfonso Caso Auditorium,, he pointed out that the celebration will serve to enunciate that plurality is one of the most highly held values within the university community.

He added, however: “This campus must serve us to look backward as well as forward.” In 1910, the University came into being as a great bridge between Mexico of the nineteenth century and Mexico’s aspiration for modernity and social justice.

Similarly, we must look forward and build a bridge between the Mexico of today and that of the future, between a country with its problems and one that finds solutions, concluded Narro Robles.

Also speaking at the ceremony, Secretary General Sergio M. Alcocer Martínez de Castro said that it is unlikely that any other university has had an impact equal to that of the UNAM on the educational and culture direction of a nation.

Since its re-inauguration as the National Autonomous University of Mexico 100 years ago, “it has been the flagship of the nation’s fleet in the fields of culture, science and humanities,” he said.

“Education is the key to the future. The UNAM is the key to Mexico´s future. This is National University of this great country, this is the University of Mexico”, he stressed.

Those in attendance at the ceremony also enjoyed a video presentation providing an overview of the activities to be carried out during the centennial celebration. These activities include a commemorative ceremony on September 22, 2010 and the award of the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa to deserving persons who have contributed to science, the humanities, arts and culture.

Other activities slated include the ceremonial franking of the commemorative postage stamp and the awarding of diplomas for meritorious service to persons from a wide array of fields within the UNAM.

Similarly, diverse publications shall be released and the university shall hold a wide range of colloquies, symposia, call for papers and cultural activities, including sporting events.

Attending the ceremony were UNAM Board of Governors President María Teresa Uriarte Castañeda; Norma Samaniego Breach, member of the University Patrons, and Carlos Arámburo de la Hoz and Estela Morales Campos, Coordinators of Scientific Research and Humanities, as well as members of the university community.

University Bulletin, October 15, 2009
http://www.dgcs.unam.mx/boletin/bdboletin/2009_609.html

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