The UB, always with Catalonia and its institutions

We are in a political and social conflict and its solution requires and will require dialogue. We are sure that as a university institution, based on the free contrast of ideas, we have to contribute to promote this dialogue and so far we have done so.

We offered to help standing in favour of dialogue, word and reasoning. However, during these last days we have found ourselves in a situation that had never occurred since the approval of the Constitution in 1978, resulting from a series of actions and reactions with serious consequences, such as the implementation of the article 155 or the one-sided declaration of independence.

Regarding this situation, we want to reaffirm our conviction in the supreme value of democracy, our absolute support for the Catalan democratic institutions, our defence of the self-government and the institutions recovered from 40 years ago. Also, we condemn the unacceptable use of violence and all those actions that can limit the rights of freedom of expression and participation.

We are aware the University is not the one in charge of finding the political exit of this situation. Our governments are the ones chosen to do so and the ones with the right tools to reach agreements. Therefore, now more than ever, we insist in our proposal for a dialogue to find a solution to the severe situation under which Catalonia is living now.

However, regarding the current situation, the University of Barcelona is committed to:

• Always defend the values of the word, reasoning and critical spirit as tools for conflict solving.
• Reaffirm the University of Barcelonaʼs complete, simple and direct commitment to the self-government and institutions of Catalonia and its society, as well as our faith in the supreme value of democracy, rejecting any action that involves a limitation of rights from those representatives elected democratically.
• Claim the autonomy of the university regarding any intention of limiting or restricting it, as a guarantee of the basis of coexistence: freedom, democracy and defence of fundamental rights.
• Participate in or support those national and international initiatives that promote dialogue, mediation and negotiation between the governments of Catalonia and Spain.
• Condemn those actions -that have been or can be taken- which can involve restrictions or limitations of rights of freedom of expression and participation.
• Work in order to create positions in agreement with the rest of the universities of the Catalan university system defending the self-government and Catalan institutions.
• Establish channels of continuous and free-flowing information so that decisions that are taken get to the university community in a clear and precise way.
• Debate and agree within the directing and governing bodies of the UB on the actions to be taken regarding the possible situations that can come up, in order to guarantee our own functions, such as teaching, research and knowledge transfer.
• We are and will be at the Catalan societyʼs service and will always defend the principles of university autonomy.

Barcelona, October 25, 2017.

Rector, President of the Board of Trustees and Deans of the University of Barcelona.