A delegation of lawmakers from the Independent Democratic Union (UDI) met this Monday at La Moneda with Constancia Castillo, Undersecretary of the General Secretariat of the Presidency, to seek government backing for a bill that would revoke tuition-free status for university students convicted of serious crimes.
The legislative proposal aims to establish new grounds for losing benefits for higher education students sentenced for crimes against life, personal integrity, property, or public infrastructure. The initiative follows the assault on Science Minister Ximena Lincolao during an event at the Austral University of Chile.
The lawmakers are seeking to align their proposal with the Executive branch's recently introduced "Protected Schools" bill, which proposes stripping tuition-free benefits from high school students who commit crimes. However, the UDI caucus argues that this measure must also be extended to higher education.
Expanding sanctions and loss of benefits
Representative Sergio Bobadilla, Chair of the Chamber's Education Committee, noted that the government may either incorporate this proposal as an amendment or sponsor the initiative directly. "Our proposal is very simple: to extend the prohibition on receiving any state-funded benefits to students sanctioned while in higher education, because the Executive's original bill only considers high school students," Bobadilla explained.
According to the lawmakers, the bill targets not only tuition-free status but also seeks to bar access to scholarships, student loans, and other state-funded social benefits for those involved in such crimes.
Representative Ricardo Neumann, also a member of the committee, emphasized that violence must not be tolerated on academic campuses. "Violence has no place anywhere, especially not in universities, which should be spaces for dialogue and learning," he stated.
The UDI delegation included Representatives Guillermo Ramírez, Sergio Bobadilla, Ricardo Neumann, Mario Olavarría, Jaime Coloma, and Eduardo Cretton. Bobadilla concluded that the measure aims to "prioritize respect for the human rights of students who truly want to learn, rather than the alleged rights of those using violence to destroy education in our country."