The former President of the University of Ottoado has been selected as interim president of the UPR

the Board of Directors From University of Puerto Rico (UPR) Appointed in an unusual meeting Cesar Cordero Montalvo As interim chief, to replace Jorge Haddock, who will leave office on July 31, after nearly three years at the helm of the foundation.

Cordero Montalvo beat Researcher and Professor on Campus Rio Piedras by 6-5 votes Brad Winner, in a process that also involved three members who did not endorse either candidate. After the parliamentarian announced that, according to the results, Cordero Montalvo was elected interim president, and a member of the board of directors Hermann Sestero Aguilar He objected to the decision, arguing that any of the candidates required the approval of an absolute majority in the body, which means at least eight votes.

Cordero Montalvo, who is currently a professor at Department of Physical Sciences From College of Natural Sciences subordinate Rio Piedras CampusAnd between 2004 and 2009 he served as President of the University UPR in Ottawaand obtained the votes of the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Emilio Colon Beltran; vice president, Maeda Velasco Bonilla; reclusive actors, Marguerite Villamel NS Lord Soto; and students, Jorge Rivera Velasquez NS Eliud Rivas Hernandez.

Rivera Velasquez cast a clarification vote in which he noted that his decision had been reduced to a preference for “the least bad”, while Rivas Hernández asserted that Cordero Montalvo performed better in his interview and provided a “comprehensive version within the university environment”.

Executives expressed in favor of Winner Ricardo DalmauAnd Antonio MonrogeAnd Alexandre CamborealeAnd Leonardo Valentine NS Manuel Gonzalez del Tororepresentative of Financial Advisory Authority and Public Finance Agency in the board of directors.

Both candidates voted “against” the acting Minister of Education, Eliezer Ramos ParisThe Cestero Aguilar and Jorge Valentin Asensio. Cestero Aguilar and Valentín Asencio were both designations of the former ruler Wanda Vasquez.

Before the elections, deputy board of directors, Miguel Santiago, warned that only one candidate could be voted on, although he declined to answer questions from Cestero Aguilar about whether an interim president could be elected with fewer than eight votes, noting that any disagreement would be resolved after the process.

The selection process between both applicants took place in public, after a vote to determine whether it was carried out in secret and ended in a tie at seven.

They revise their tracks

Before proceeding with the elections, Velasco Bonilla reviewed the credentials of Cordero Montalvo and Wiener, as well as the requirements required of candidates for the interim presidency.

The Vice Chairman explained that Cordero Montalvo has a history of “more than 40 years” in the UPR, including the phases in which he served as Dean of Academic Affairs at the Río Piedras campus and UPR Kayi, in addition to his tenure as President of UPR Utuado, between 2004 and 2009. He also noted that he served as Vice President for Academic Affairs, so he “knows how it works” Central administration the system.

Meanwhile, de Wiener specified that he had worked at UPR as a professor since 1988 and described him as a scholar of “international caliber”. He pointed out that he had recently conducted research with grants from federal agencies such as National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)He served as Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences in Rio Piedras for 13 years.

The discussion before the vote focused on the indicators obtained by both candidates in the past with regard to the management of public funds, Questions that metro reviewed earlier.

In the case of Cordero Montalvo, a Office of the Comptroller He issued a report in 2013 stating that upon leaving the parsonage in UPR Utuado, he received a settlement payment that exceeded his limit by more than $8,800.

Similarly, the report also noted other irregularities in the administration of the academic unit that covered part of the period in which the professor held the position of rector. Among the allegations, non-compliance with the duty to refer signed contracts to the Office of the Comptroller was included, although the report did not specify the number of failures corresponding to the period in which Cordero Montalvo headed the institution.

“We will vote for two candidates on administrative charges,” Valentin Asensio said during the debate.

For his part, Cestero Aguilar highlighted allegations made about a decade ago against the UPR regarding the management of federal funds, at a time when Weiner was Dean and was part of a committee whose job it was to correct loopholes in federal funds. administrative operations. In 2012, the NSF chose to suspend the UPR’s access to grant monies.

While Cestero Aguilar insisted that the investigation by federal authorities, as of today, was on track, Velasco Bonilla confirmed that it was a closed chapter when, in 2018, the UPR agreed to pay the federal government $1.8 million. According to Velasco Bonilla, researchers, including Wiener, “followed the rules” of the UPR that were in effect at the time, so the responsibility for non-compliance with federal rules rests with central management, which has not adapted your operations to changes in NSF rules.

The vice chairman insisted that “Brad Weiner is still a good candidate because he wasn’t the one who made the rule,” while Colon Beltran indicated he would be monitored later if the detective continues to be the subject of a federal investigation.

Regarding the requirements, Velasco Bonilla stated that the candidates must be UPR professors, not currently hold a position in the central administration or the straights and neither of which aspires to become president in the monarchy. The search for a current chair is expected to begin once the transition is complete after Haddock’s departure, on July 31, and recommendations from the Academic Boards for each of the UPR units should be considered.

According to Velasco Bonilla, three candidates were interviewed, although he did not specify their names. However, this media last week reported that Ingrid Montes Gonzalez, professor of chemistry at the Rio Piedras campus, was a finalist along with Cordero Montalvo Initial attempt to appoint a temporary president. It wasn’t until, at the search committee meeting with the rest of the board last Wednesday, that Cordero Montalvo did not have the votes at the time, the nomination process reopened and Weiner’s replacement emerged.

Velasco Bonilla, without mentioning the names, noted that several candidates announced that they were unavailable for the interim presidency, while one was excluded because he is a UPR contractor and not a professor.

The original list of eight candidates included Arturo AvilesAnd Daniel AltshulerAnd Ingrid PadillaAnd Jose LasaldeAnd Anna Guadeloupe NS Jose Rodriguez Orengo, as well as Cordero Montalvo and Montes González.