US embassy cable - 07GUADALAJARA610

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GUADALAJARA 000610 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KPAO, SCUL, ECON, PREL, MX 
SUBJECT: UNIVERSITY OF GUADALAJARA - A LEFTIST ICON'S NEW PRAGMATISM 
 
GUADALAJAR 00000610  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
1.  Summary:  Slowly but surely the left-leaning and often 
anti-U.S. University of Guadalajara is adopting a more practical 
relationship with the Consulate and USG.  As the second-largest 
public university in Mexico, the University is closely tied to 
the state library and hospital and owns several businesses. 
Getting along better enables us not only to co-sponsor courses, 
research and exchanges, but also to better shape faculty and 
student opinion about the U.S.  End Summary. 
 
2.  Over the past several years Consulate Guadalajara's work 
with the University of Guadalajara has increased dramatically, 
demonstrating a new openness on the part of the University's 
leaders and faculty.  While leftist and often publicly anti-U.S. 
in the past, the state university had always sent its faculty to 
study in the U.S. and sought opportunities for exchanges there, 
recognizing the value of U.S. education and research.  The 
University is home to 190,000 students, 12,000 faculty, and is 
the largest employer in the state of Jalisco.  It manages 14 
campuses plus a virtual campus and owns 16 corporate 
enterprises, including a language school, school for foreign 
students, publishing house, an enormous new auditorium, and the 
largest Spanish-language book fair in the world (the Feria 
Internacional del Libro or "FIL" by its Spanish acronym).  The 
local press often criticizes these non-academic efforts, but no 
one can deny the international attention they bring to 
Guadalajara. 
 
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What's changed? 
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3.  USG overtures to the University of Guadalajara reach back a 
number of years, including the donation of Consulate 
Guadalajara's Benjamin Franklin Library collection to the 
University in 1995.  Since 2004 the University has won three 
USAID scholarships for partnerships with U.S. universities 
focused on the environment and economic development.  In 2006 
the U.S. Ambassador signed a Memorandum of Understanding with 
the University to strengthen ties, and the University formally 
established a long-overdue Center for North American Studies. 
The USG supported the University's videoconference participation 
in a U.S. Studies course in Mexico City in spring 2007.  About 
300 students cordially received U/S Karen Hughes when she spoke 
about journalism and international relations during her February 
visit to Guadalajara, and in recent months the Consulate hosted 
several groups of University students for tours and discussions 
of U.S.-Mexican relations. 
 
4.  This year's FIL (November 24-December 2), attended by over 
half a million people from throughout the Americas, captured the 
essence of our new relationship.  High-level participation by 
the National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Dana Gioia in 
several events, along with other USG-sponsored speakers, caught 
FIL President (and former University Rector) Raul Padilla's 
attention, and he talked with Mr. Gioia about the possibility of 
inviting a U.S. city to be the FIL's special guest for 2009. 
Also during the FIL, the University and the International Center 
for Journalists (ICFJ) in Washington announced the 2008 opening 
of a Center for Digital Journalism, a training center for all 
Mexico and Latin America.  ICFJ brought well-known experts for 
the FIL's Journalism Roundtable on this subject, which attracted 
300 journalists and students.  In all these events, the 
University gave USG officers prominent seats at the table and 
featured them in its campus newspaper. 
 
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What's behind the new attitude? 
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5.  Competition is driving the University's change of heart, 
along with the ambitions of its top leadership.  Guadalajara's 
top four or five private universities have expanded their 
programs, often touting international studies and experience as 
a drawing card for student enrollment.  They also attract 
private investment and cooperative research and exchange 
programs from U.S. universities.  The University of Guadalajara 
is large, but it's not the only player in a field that includes 
universities with national campuses and reputations, such as Tec 
de Monterrey, not to mention Mexico's national university, UNAM. 
 
6.  Last month the University of Guadalajara announced 
competency requirements in English for most disciplines, another 
long-awaited measure, given that a lack of English speakers 
limits employment opportunities in Guadalajara's high-tech 
industry.  Ambitious University leaders with ties to U.S. 
institutions want to get to know their neighbor better in order 
to build their programs or seek private sponsorship.  The 
current Rector Carlos Briseqo speaks English and studied for his 
Master's degree in the United States.  Fulbright and other 
exchange programs have played a role;  the Consulate database 
registers 21 former Fulbrighters at the University of 
Guadalajara.  Younger faculty, who came of age after the 
communist heydays of the 1970s, want to connect to U.S. academic 
circles and push the University in different directions.  This 
 
GUADALAJAR 00000610  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
pragmatic approach -- that better ties with the U.S. will help 
develop the University, bringing more investment and prestige - 
gives the University an added dimension. 
 
7.  Briseqo, who has shared the podium with the Consul General 
and Public Affairs Officer at numerous events, tells us he wants 
to further expand our cooperation as part of his effort to 
reorient the university as an engine of development for western 
Mexico.  This includes more emphasis on English instruction, 
outreach to the business community, and dialogue with the 
government.  Another sign of the University's pragmatism was its 
decision to sell naming rights to its huge new auditorium to 
Telmex - unthinkable ten years ago. 
 
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Who cares? 
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8.  The FIL, the state Library and University Cultural Center 
(the latter two under construction), as well as the University's 
academic departments provide the USG with an unprecedented 
opportunity to improve linkages and expand relations through 
education, cultural activities, exchanges and joint research. 
Dialogue across disciplines and at all levels, especially with 
young people, is key to reducing prejudices in this traditional 
part of Mexico that often distrusts the U.S. at the same time it 
sends thousands of  migrants north and depends on the U.S. for 
trade.  We now have an open invitation to use the University as 
a platform for that dialogue.  We may not have fully changed the 
political opinions of the majority of students or faculty, but 
we've struck an alliance to work together on important areas of 
mutual benefit.  There's still a long way to go in western 
Mexico, but this trend is definitely positive. 
RAMOTOWSKI