Original article: Estudiantes iniciaron toma en Campus Santiago de la U. de Valparaíso

Students Launch Occupation at UV Santiago Campus Amid Demands for Safety and Facility Improvements

This week, students from five out of six programs at the Santiago Campus of the University of Valparaíso voted in favor of extending their strike, which they state has not received a proper response to their petition.

Following the vote, a group initiated an occupation of campus facilities, asserting that it was a «desperate response after exhausting all institutional channels» and deeming the university’s reply to their requests as «vague, lacking real commitments and without fixed deadlines.»

«This is not our first step; it is our last resort,» emphasized the student organization leading the mobilizations, advocating for an «extensive» petition that emerged from a conflict they claim «did not arise overnight or from a last-minute impulse.»

«It originated from a comprehensive, detailed petition we devised, documenting our urgent needs with names, cases, and evidence. Harassment, bullying, covert monitoring, poor infrastructure, abusive methodologies, and lack of transparency,» the students outlined.

«These are not whims or impossible demands. They are concrete complaints affecting our physical and psychological safety. We are real individuals, with names and faces, who have tried for months to get the authorities to listen through formal channels,» they added.

One of the primary concerns involves two situations involving faculty members. A female professor is accused of harassing a group of female students in one of the building’s restrooms, while a male professor allegedly filmed young women during an exam. Both individuals have received backing from the university.

For the students, the case involving the first teacher «is evidence that the system protects the accused more than the accuser» since, they detailed, those who reported the harassment suffered from identity leaks.

In other words, «not only did we have to face the harassment, but we also had to contend with our names being exposed due to a leak that remains unexplained and unsanctioned,» they questioned.

Infrastructure

Another issue raised by the UV student movement concerns «the infrastructure conditions we have been reporting since before the conflict erupted.»

«A campus that has historically seen an increase in enrollment without a corresponding growth in facilities. The lack of covered spaces to study and shelter from the rain. Dangerous uneven surfaces and broken tiles in the courtyards, which become traps for those of us who navigate them daily,» they mentioned.

They accompanied this point with a series of photographs.

For the students, these images «strip away the institutional narrative in one fell swoop. They speak of investments in pergolas and furniture, yet the photos show new chairs tied up because the ceiling is about to collapse. They talk about institutional efficiency to close at 7 PM but show no efficiency in fixing a pillar that holds up the structure.»

«That is why on November 9, 2026, five out of six programs voted to extend the federated strike,» they highlighted, leading to the peaceful occupation of campus facilities.

«We demand the signing of a commitment agreement by the authorities that establishes specific and unmovable deadlines to address all points in the original petition. In other words, what they should have done from day one. A document with dates, responsible parties, and consequences. Not another list of justifications. A real commitment,» the students finally emphasized.

We will continue to provide updates.