Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC): UC Dialogue convened 600 participants to discuss the new constitution
Between August 16 and 25, the university community met on all campuses to discuss the draft of the new constitutional text that will be voted on this Sunday, September 4.
With the participation of 600 people, the members of the UC discussed the constitutional proposal in the ninth edition of La UC Dialogue . Through five thematic tables, these topics were addressed: political system; education rights; multinationality; right to life, freedom of religion and belief; and the right to nature and the environment.
To facilitate the participation of the entire community, the meetings were held during the student lunch time block, during which there are no classes. In addition, it was held in the five campuses of the institution: Central House, San Joaquín, Oriente, Lo Contador and Villarrica.
The conversation tables were made up of students, officials and academics, in instances that were valued by the students as spaces to learn more about the text and debate on equal terms with the different parts of the community.
“In this activity, -in which a record is left for future learning-, the free expression of ideas and active listening are stimulated, so important in the times we live in, in which conversation between different people is not frequent, complement each other in their training, age, interests and expectations. This is a true example of participation that we believe should be replicated in institutions and in society in general”, said the rector Ignacio Sánchez.
“This is a true example of participation that we believe should be replicated in institutions and in society in general” – rector Ignacio Sánchez.
“Dialogue builds and rebuilds relationships and allows us to meet in spaces where we can project common ideas even from our differences,” explained Verónica Guarda, Director of Communications of the Vice President for Communications and Cultural Extension.
“UC Dialoga has been generating this cross-cutting conversation for nine years and that makes it a tremendous tool that we all have to promote together. There are not many possibilities that we have to sit down to raise issues and jointly imagine a better University, contributing to our coexistence and also to society. This project has a unique stamp and without a doubt for its decade of life, we will think of something with which to surprise our community” , Veronica stressed.
“This project has a unique stamp and without a doubt for its decade of life, we will think of something to surprise our community with”- Verónica Guarda, Director of Communications
The seal of the Villarrica Campus
With the participation of almost 40 people, the UC Villarrica Campus had a very fluid conversation. The campus director, Gonzalo Valdivieso, pointed out that there was “a spirit of a country that no matter what happens, is moving towards things that we believe have to happen, things that are helping us to be a better country.”
The UC Villarrica Campus is a space that stands out for being a place where research, projects and interests converge around the environment and interculturality, a seal that is also complemented by the UC Center for Local Development (CEDEL UC ) located on the Campus and from where initiatives in these areas are developed.
In this sense, Valdivieso assures that “we have had a strong commitment to interculturality and the environment, enabling dialogue between different cultures, an equivalent dialogue that starts from a base of equal balance”, this being the predisposition with which face these encounters.
“We have had a strong commitment to interculturality and the environment, enabling dialogue between different cultures, an equivalent dialogue that starts from a base of balanced equality” – Gonzalo Valdivieso, director of Campus Villarrica
That is why the director of the UC headquarters states that the meeting allows us to continue developing views towards the transformations that are wanted for our country. “It forces us to keep looking further ahead, to how to make our university one that is at the forefront of these issues,” he says.