On June 9th in the Official Daily of the Federation, the modification of the 3rd constitutional article appeared, consisting in the addition of a section VIII which  would guarantee the autonomy of universities and other institutions of higher education to those that the law had granted autonomy.

It also established that labor relationships would be governed by section A of article 123 with the categories that the Federal Law of Labor established.  With this constitutional modification, the labor situation in the universities would have a reference in the highest legal hierarchy in the Republic.  The University Center of Communication in Science was founded. 

The ENEP in Cuautitlán was transformed into the College of Superior Studies in Cuautitlán.  The Center of Ocean Sciences and Limnology was promoted to Institute.  The Center for Research on Nitrogen Fixation, in Cuernavaca, and the Center for Research and Museum Services began its work. 

A recount of academic personnel affiliated with the AAPAUNAM and the STUNAM demonstrated that 6,582 members belonged to the first one while 1,316 members belonged to the second one. 

There fore, the AAPAUNAM was still the main union in the signing of the collective contract which replaced the section of union conditions in the EPA.  The auditoriums Miguel Covarrubias and Carlos Chávez were built in the University Cultural Center. 

The first International Book Fair was put on in the Palacio de Minería (Mining Palace), with 216 publishing houses participating.  The UNAM retired the “Puma”, its oceanographic ship. 

The student population in the UNAM was 294,542 students.  The teaching staff ascended to 27,515 and the administrative staff to 23,716.  The rector, Dr. Guillermo Soberón Acevedo concluded his term. 

Dr. Octavio Rivero Serrano was appointed rector, who had been up to that time, the director of the College of Medicine.  The Secretary General was Raúl Béjar Navarro. 

The functions of the General Office of Academic Extension were restructured and the School for Foreigners was separated from it, becoming the Center for Teaching Foreigners (CEPE), which would still manage EPESA in San Antonio. 

The Pumas soccer team won their 2nd championship beating Cruz Azul with an overall score of 4-2.  The National School of Architecture became a College.  The General Office for Academic Projects, the University Center for Library Research and university programs in computing, food and clinical research were all created. 

Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado, Secretary of Programming and Budget, was a candidate for President of the Republic, who managed a campaign in favor of moral renovation in society, as part of his electoral platform.

The Federal Government began a process of budget cuts and the so-called “rich administration” came to an end.  Inflation was on the rise.  The moralizing prestige of the candidate de la Madrid won him sympathies. 

In his last presidential address, López Portillo announced the nationalization of the banking system and the control over exchange rates.  The control over exchange rates caused problems in acquiring bibliographic material as well as for laboratories coming from abroad. 

The Center for Research on Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, as well as the University Energy Program were established.  The National Preparatory Schools 1, 2 and 3 abandoned their facilities in San Ildefonso and Primo de Verdad, to relocate in the Noria, Iztacalco and Aragón, while the General Office of the National Preparatory Schools was located in the neighborhood del Valle.

President De la Madrid attended the Bolívar Amphitheater where the creation of the Justo Sierra University Program was announced. It focused on interdisciplinary research in the social sciences, which implied occupying the restored San Ildefonso building, for the carrying out of research and university extension work.

The General Office of Technological Development was formed.  On April 29th the STUNAM had a labor stoppagedemanding a salary increase.  On the last day of May a strike broke out lasting until the 27th of June. 

The Union ended up accepting the conditions proposed by the authorities.  In September the ecological reserve on the university campus was created, consisting of 124.5 hectares. 

The Center for Multidisciplinary Research was also created, which would be in Cuernavaca.  In front of the University Council, the Director presented a document entitled “Evaluation and framework for academic and administrative changes.” 

Dr. Rivero Serrano began some necessary projects, with the intention of solving problems at the university.  A large number of university faculty and staff participated in these projects, since those who were in charge of them had to work based on needs analyses in the community. 

Sixty-five projects were presented to the University Council.  They were grouped according to the subsystem which was competent to deal with each issue.  In this way, the Secretary General coordinated everything related to teaching at all levels, the teachers’ situation, and procedures related to school matters. 

Each subsystem took care of everything related to their area:  administration, legal matters, scientific and humanistic research, and university extension and cultural dissemination issues.  Once approved, the projects became programs.  On the whole, it was seen as an important university reform and it led to a Main Plan of Institutional Development. 

Also during this year, special attention was given to the signing of bilateral agreements with universities abroad, some of them of great prestige; the University of Chicago and UCLA, in the United States; Brock University, in Canada; and Von Humboldt University in Berlin.  The General Office of Technological Development changed names to the Center of Technological Innovation. 

The movie theaters, Julio Bracho and José Revueltas, in the University Cultural Center were opened to the public.  The facilities at the Biology Station at the “Tuxtlas” were enlarged and the Station of Puerto Morelos, of the Institute of Ocean Sciences and Limnology was inaugurated. 

The oceanographic ship, “Justo Sierra” was retired.  The Emergent Program for University Textbooks began.  The Center for Studies on the United States of America was created.  By presidential decree the National System of Researchers (SNI) was created, thus a large number of university researchers became members.

Dr. Jorge Carpizo MacGrégor, ex-director of the Institute of Legal Research, took office as Director of the university.  Dr. José Narro Robles was named Secretary General of the university.  The Director established the Legal Counsel for University Rights; the first university ombudsman was the prestigious lawyer, Jorge Barrera Graf. 

The Regulations for Participation and Collaboration of Alumni with the University was established, which paved the way for the Alumni Office.  The College of Directors of High Schools was created along with its corresponding regulations.  University administration went under changes:  The Emergent Program for University Textbooks became a permanent program. 

The General Offices of University Communication and Community Services disappeared.  The General Office for Labor Issues was created by the fusion of two lower offices from other areas.  The General Office for University Outreach and the University Center for Production of Audiovisual Resources came together to form the General Office of University Television. 

The Office of Planning, Budget and Administrative Studies emerged from the joining of three General Offices.  The Center for Humanistic Research of Mesoamerica and the State of Chiapas was established and it was managed by the Institute of Historic Research. 

The Center for Research on Cellular Physiology became an Institute.  In May additions to the Regulations for University Merit were approved, with the awarding of the National University Prize to distinguished university figures.  Two strong earthquakes shook Mexico City, leaving great destruction, wounded and victims and causing an elevated death toll. Teachers, students and workers formed civil aid groups that participated in different types of rescue labors.

The Justo Sierra University Program and the Center for Studies on the United States of America disappeared and with these resources, the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in the Humanities was created. 

The Distributor for University Books was transformed into the General Office of Editorial Development.  The Office of University Extension became the Cultural Dissemination Coordinator’s Office while the General Office for Cultural Dissemination disappeared.  Within the Cultural Dissemination Office, offices for Literature, Theater and Dance were created. 

The building which houses the Institute of Legal Research was inaugurated, the first building which would make up part of the Research City in Humanities, on Mario de la Cueva Circuit.  On April 16th, the Director presented a diagnostic document to the University Council, entitled:  “Strengths and weaknesses of the UNAM,” and opened a consultation process.

  A month later, some university student counselors challenged it.  The consultation process with the community ended on September 3rd.  On the 11th and 12th of September, in a very long session of the University Council, the Director presented 26 measures with the objective of raising the academic and institutional level of the UNAM and they were approved. 

This implied changes in the general rules for exams, registration, graduate school and the General Statutes of the UNAM.  On September 24th, an assembly gathered in the Aula Magna of the College of Philosophy and Literature and rejected the reforms proposed by the rector.  A few days later, the union did the same, but the Director declared that he would not back down. 

A meeting on the esplanade of the Rector’s Office demonstrated their rejection of the approved reforms.  On October 31st, the University Student Council (CEU) was integrated, with the purpose of obtaining the repeal of the modifications outlined which were related to payments and exams. 

The CEU summoned the Rector’s Office to a public dialogue about the reforms.  In November the CEU demanded the carrying out of a University Congress to discuss the reforms in the UNAM.  The Director refused their petition but accepted to form a commission of five officials to analyze the situation, with the talks taking place on the 12th of November.  The Commissions of Academic Labor and University Legislation of the University Council met with the representatives of the CEU. 

A commission from the Rector’s Office proposed that a special commission be created in order to work on an agenda which would include modifications to the contested rules. 

On December 15th an agreement to have an open public discussion from the 6th to the 12th of January was reached. 

On January 6th, the public dialogue between the Student Council representatives and representatives from the rectory began.  The sessions took place in the Justo Sierra Auditorium and were transmitted by Radio UNAM. 

The representatives of the institution proposed adjustments, for example, on the regulations regarding payments, but not to give in with respect to exams and automatic admission (from the National Preparatory Schools and CCH).

  The CEU requested the repeal of the reformed regulations, the carrying out of a definitive congress, an increase in subsidy and in the case that their petitions were not granted they would go on strike on January 29th. 

New proposals from the Rector’s Office were rejected by the CEU.  On January 20th, the Director announced his acceptance to carry out a university congress, and in the event that the University Council decided so, it would determine the rules for its functioning.  The Director announced that the University Council would meet on February 10th. 

On January 29th, the strike broke out with support from the STUNAM.  On the agreed date the University Council met in the Auditorium of the College of Civil Engineers and agreed to suspend the regulations in dispute, as well as a university congress. 

It was committed to, in due time, taking responsibility for the agreements from such a congress.  On February 18th the strike was lifted.  In October, a special commission from the University Council made known the rules for electing the 16 representatives of the academic personnel who would make up, along with other representatives, the Organizing Commission of the University Congress (COCU).  The election for these representatives took place December 3rd.

The Director inaugurated the buildings for the Institutes of Historic and Aesthetic Research in May.  Later on the buildings for the Institutes of Philosophical and Philological Research and the Humanities Coordinator’s Office had their turns. 

In the national sphere, the moment to elect a presidential candidate for the PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) came closer.  For this purpose, public appearances of the main presidential candidates were carried out, Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Manuel Bartlett Díaz, Alfredo del Mazo, Sergio García Ramírez, among others.  Two well-known members of the PRI, Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas and Porfirio Muñoz Ledo, resigned from the party and along with them a group of partisans. 

In October the nomination of Carlos Salinas de Gortari, a graduate in economy, was announced.  The electoral agitation reached an interesting point of effervescence.  Manuel J. Clouthier, a entrepreneur from Sinaloa, was the candidate for the PAN (National Action Party), he had already ran for governor of that state.

Herberto Castillo was supported by the PSUM (Socialist United Party of Mexico), and Cuautémoc Cárdenas was supported by coalition groups and parties.

The transformation of the Center for Nuclear Studies to Institute was approved as was the establishment of the Ecology Center.  The candidate Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas had two meetings on the esplanade of the Rector’s Office of the UNAM. 

In the last stage of the electoral campaign, Heberto Castillo, a graduate in Engineering, renounced his candidacy in favor of Cárdenas, also from Engineering.  The election results were highly disputed.  The PRI lost its majority in the Chamber of Deputies, as well as Senate seats in the Federal District and Michoacan.  Carlos Salinas de Gortari was declared president, with 51% of the votes in his favor. 

The UNAM closed the year with a strike by the STUNAM with the objective of recovering salary, and although it did not obtain the expected results, it paralyzed the institution until the 3rd of December, two days after the ceremony of the changing of powers.

  In the meantime, the Director established the University Program for Research on the United States of America and the Board of Regents continued with inquiries for the designation a new Director in an office in Félix Cuevas Street.

Dr. José Sarukhán, who had been the Coordinator of Scientific Research, was sworn in as Rector.  The Secretary General, José Narro Robles, was re-appointed.  Among the academic and administrative reforms was the change from the Program of Research on the United States into a Center.

 The General Office on Planning was converted into the General Office of Planning, Evaluation and Academic Projects; in fact, it took over tasks done by other areas, suppressed by the purpose of diminishing the bureaucratic load of the university. The Advisory Council of Cultural Dissemination was created. 

The general notice for the carrying out of the University Congress was approved.  A process of academic professionalization in the university began, with the Program of Academic Leadership and Support for the Career Oriented Teacher and University Researcher, which included a Bonus Program for Initiation in Research for Career Oriented Teachers and Researchers, the National University Distinction for Young Academics and the Support Program for Research Projects and Educational Innovation. 

The Program for Modernization and Renovation of High Schools was created.  The Program for Modernization and Renovation of the Library System was also established.  The renovation of the university telephone system and the first satellite connection in the University Network of Telecommunications was started up. 

The COCU (Organizing Commission of the University Congress) established the rules to accomplish the University Congress.