City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 6-2016 Struggling to Learn, Learning to Struggle: Strategy and Structure in the 2010-11 University of Puerto Rico Student Strike José A. Laguarta Ramírez Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/1359 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] STRUGGLING TO LEARN, LEARNING TO STRUGGLE: STRATEGY AND STRUCTURE IN THE 2010-11 UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO STUDENT STRIKE by JOSÉ A. LAGUARTA RAMÍREZ A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Political Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New Yoek. 2016 © 2016 JOSÉ A. LAGUARTA RAMÍREZ All Rights Reserved ii Struggling to Learn, Learning to Struggle: Strategy and Structure in the 2010-11 University of Puerto Rico Student Strike by José A. Laguarta Ramírez This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Political Science in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Date Susan L. Woodward Chair of Examining Committee Date Alyson Cole Executive Officer Supervisory Committee: Susan L. Woodward Vincent Boudreau Frances Fox Piven THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii ABSTRACT Struggling to Learn, Learning to Struggle: Strategy and Structure in the 2010-11 University of Puerto Rico Student Strike by José A. Laguarta Ramírez Advisor: Susan L. Woodward From April 2010 to March 2011, the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) underwent a two-phase strike sequence against neoliberal austerity measures. Altogether, that process resulted in the eventual concession of all of the students’ main demands, an unprecedented feat at the UPR, and a rare one in Puerto Rican history in general. In this dissertation I seek to cast light on this improbable event by examining, first, how neoliberalization patterned and contoured the choices facing the century-old UPR student movement. Second, I explore how interactions within the movement, including the framing contest among leadership teams and their interaction with the movement grassroots, affected the way in which those decisions were made. Focusing on a political cadre organization, the Union of Socialist Youths (UJS), which has been involved in the UPR since the mid-1970s, I conducted targeted, semi-structured interviews with members of the UJS, several of whom were first-generation working-class students first drawn to the movement by the on campus “movement building” activities of political cadre. Complementing my own critical participant observation with these interviews, as well as archival and documentary research, I built a reflexive, extended case study based on a reiterated problem-solving or learning process model. In summary, without arguing causation, I show that: 1) reforms implemented by administrators named by both governing parties since 1981 constitute a more or less coherent repertoire consistent with neoliberalization; 2) debates within the UPR student movement around critical switchpoints before and during the 2010-11 strike revolved around an apparent tradeoff between militant “pressure” and mass appeal, aspects of which are made salient by neoliberalizing repertoires (a recurring combination of strategic dilemmas that I call the “neoliberal dilemma”); 3) the UJS and other cadre organizations intervened in these debates in ways that strengthened the strategic capacity of the movement as a whole; and 4) the 2010-11 UPR strike is in turn part of a longer problem-solving sequence extending back to at least 1981, which in turn is part of the longer trajectory of the nested UPR student movement field, and the broader trajectory of resistance to colonial capitalism in Puerto Rico. Keywords: cadre organizations, framing contest, leadership teams, learning, neoliberalization, reiterated problem-solving, strategic capacity, student movements, tactical repertoires, University of Puerto Rico iv Para Aníbal y Usmaíl, sembradores de ausubo y de guayacán. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation has truly been a collective endeavor, even as responsibility for its mistakes, flaws, and shortcomings is entirely mine. I wish to thank, first and foremost, my interviewees and the entire membership of the Unión de Juventudes Socialistas and Movimiento Socialista de Trabajadores, for their openness and enthusiasm towards this project. Too many crucial voices were left out of this narrative as a result of circumstances beyond anyone’s control, but if this work serves as a catalyst for future documentation and research into little known actors, areas, and aspects of Puerto Rico’s politics of resistance, I am proud to leave my grain of sand. I wish to give special recognition to my dissertation advisor, Dr. Susan L. Woodward, for her amazing patience, persistent encouragement, and unmeasurably valuable insights throughout this long and often rocky journey. We made it! Likewise, my other committee members, Dr. Vincent Boudreau and Dr. Frances Fox Piven, have been constant sources of inspiration and enlightenment. My sincere appreciation for everyone at the Department of Political Science, and The Graduate Center in general, who made this voyage easier and more pleasant during my many years there. Special mention is due to the Association of Latino and Latin American Students (AELLA), whose office was the birthing room of the proposal that later became this dissertation, and the Politics and Protest Workshop, where I received incredibly fruitful advice, as well as encouragement. Dr. John Krinsky, in particular, was a tremendous help in thinking through a number of conceptual and theoretical impasses. My gratitude goes as well to Dr. María Pérez y González, and everyone at the Department of Puerto Rican and Latino Studies at Brooklyn College, for their understanding and flexibility. Among the many people who contributed, in one way or another, Francisco Fortuño and Shadia Almasri threw their labor into the ring, helping out with the transcription of the interviews. vi Without their work, the completion of this dissertation would not have been possible. As my partner and co-conspirator, Shadia’s unrelenting love, support, and incomprehensible tolerance for my worst possible sides, arriving at a critical “switchpoint” in my own life, have without a doubt been the breath that has kept me going. Likewise, I couldn’t have done it without the loving encouragement and support (often having to take material form) of my parents and the rest of my extended family. I would also like to extend my sincerest gratitude to Pedro Julio Serrano, Lucy Cruz, Reinaldo Rodríguez, Fátima Santana, Rafael Zúñiga, Antonio Carmona, Gustavo Rivera, Christopher Malone, and Nahomi Galindo, all of whom provided direly needed support, in one form or another, at different stages of this process. In addition to all those whom I have mentioned, countless conversations and interactions with countless friends and comrades have nurtured this project over the years, too many to mention. You know who you are. Finally, this dissertation was completed thanks to the generous financial support that I received from several sources. Among them, I was fortunate enough to enrich my analytical framework as a graduate student fellow for the academic year 2014-2015 at the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics. My thanks to everyone who participated in the seminar, and especially Drs. Ruth Gilmore, Mary Taylor, Peter Hitchcock, and David Harvey, for the wonderful opportunity. I also benefited, throughout the course of my graduate studies, from two Doctoral Student Research Grants, a Dissertation Year Fellowship, and a Dean K. Harrison Award from the Office of Educational Opportunity and Diversity. I am deeply grateful for all of them. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures ix List of Acronyms x 1. Introduction 1 2. Through the Looking Glass: A Complex Actor through Time and Space 39 3. Neoliberalization at the UPR: Repertoire and Dilemma 81 4. The UJS and the 2010-11 UPR Student Strike: Socialist Sails over Neoliberal Waters 130 5. Conclusions: Learning and Struggling on a Moving Train 186 Figures 215 Bibliography 223 viii List of Figures Fig. 2.1. Westward view from UPR clock tower, 1940s, with contemporary satellite image. Fig. 2.2. San Juan Municipality, unemployment by census tract, 1995. Fig. 2.3. Rough location of the 11 campuses of the UPR system. Fig. 2.4. Rough map of the Río Piedras campus. Fig. 4.1. Comparative momentum (two phases of the 2010-11 UPR Student Strike) Fig. 5.1. Pre-1981 UPR student movement Fig. 5.2. Duration and context (post-1981 UPR student strike processes) Fig. 5.3. External interactions (post-1981 UPR student strike processes) Fig. 5.4. Strike organization (post-1981 UPR student strike processes) Fig. 5.5. Outcomes and aftermath (post-1981 UPR student strike processes) ix List of Acronyms APPU Asociación Puertorriqueña de Profesores Universitarios Puerto Rican University Professors’ Association AUPE Asociación de Universitarios Pro-Estadidad University Pro-Statehood Association BEOG Basic Educational Opportunity Grant CA Comité de Acción Action Committee CAL Comandos Armados de Liberación Armed Liberation Commandoes CAED Comité de Acción