dean Campus of Medical Sciences (RCM)And the Elka Rios Reyes, Today, Thursday, he submitted his resignation after the president of the University of Puerto Rico, Louis A. ferau She was asked to do so in the face of accusations by two medical school deans who denounced yesterday that she “obstructed” an academic evaluation of a female student for her on-campus residency preference.

“In response to your sudden request to resign, and for these purposes, I place my position as Rector of the University with the property of the Medical Sciences Campus at your disposal.”Rios Reyes said in the letter to Ferrao.

Rios Reyes, who was appointed principal in December last year, stated in her resignation letter that the preferential treatment of the student is due to an agreement signed in February 2021 by The second is Rodriguez Collincini.

“This agreement provides for some treatment of the said person and raises positions regarding this level of the facility’s nominee entity, which permits intervention at any time deemed necessary,” Rios Reyes stated.

Ríos Reyes’ resignation request follows meetings this morning with the chair of the UPR following complaints of violations of medical school regulations in favor of a student at the request of parents.

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs medical schoolthe doctor Hilton FrankieThe Associate Dean for Student Affairs, Dr. Joalex Antongiorgi, Yesterday, Wednesday, they announced their resignations from their positions of trust in the Red Cross mechanism in the face of the university president’s scandal.

Firau had announced on Thursday that he had been aware of the allegations since last Friday, and that in order to “maintain purity and transparency”, he had asked the Central Administration’s Legal Affairs Office to appoint an investigative officer to initiate an investigation.

the teachers They directed their resignations to the interim dean of Dar medical schoolAnd the Ivonne Z. Jiménez Velázquez, having understood that the President of the University of Ríos Reyes favors a particular student, completely “bypassed” the regulations of the educational institution and ignored the appeal process for negative decisions of the University“.

Frankie insisted that the medical school’s policy manual sets out the mechanisms by which students must appeal a negative decision, and once that circumstance is determined, an oversight committee is set up. The professor noted that even the due hearing in such cases was banned by order of the university president.

“I’ve never seen a university president try to interrupt the process. I’ve never seen that before and it’s not supposed to happen. In fact, the university president is not supposed to be aware of the cases that occur because they are part of the appeal chain. So if we take a negative decision against a student, the student has the ability to appeal to the Rector, but the Rector cannot intervene in this case because the process is already affected and flawed,” Frankie explained.

Similarly, Antongiorgi, who has been in his position as Associate Dean for Student Affairs since last year, explained that before sharing his resignation they sent a letter to the interim dean stating their concerns and all observations that might jeopardize the adoption of the enclosure. Before visiting the countries of the Middle East. Subsequently, the document was shared with the UPR chair, he reported.

“We do this because we have always been monitoring the operations so that they are carried out in accordance with due process. (…]I’ve worked alongside Dr. De Franchi and all the decisions have been transparent and clear and based on our policies. The moment we understand that there is an aberration, well, we find ourselves in this position because it is not fair to the other students.Antongiorgi said.

He pointed out that one of the points that the accreditation bodies take into consideration is that the administration follows some standards on how to evaluate all students according to the same policies and guidelines.

Meanwhile, he emphasized that from his space managing the medical school admissions committee, he ensured that the admissions process to the institution was not influenced by the political interests or family ties of the students’ privilege.

Appointments since his appointment

Ríos Reyes was appointed Dean of the Medical Sciences Campus last December. Appointed in the middle of the UPR board meeting, after the board had not approved the appointment of Wanda Maldonadorecommended by the then Interim Chair of the Universal Periodic Review, Mayra Olavaria Cruz.

Upon his arrival, he appointed the officials who had taken part in his appraisal of the office, such as the former claustral representative before the Board of Directors, to positions of trust in the enclosure. Lourdes Soto de Loredo and several members of the Research and Evaluation Committee in Medical Sciences.

These weren’t the only decisions Ríos Reyes made that caused uneasiness within the establishment. With the arrival of Ríos Reyes, the dean of academic affairs on campus left her position, Deborah Silvaan official who until the beginning of this year was responsible for the institution’s own operations to maintain its accreditation Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Although two sources from this newspaper indicated that she had been fired, Silva made it clear in a message posted on social media that she had resigned from her position.

One of the sources for this medium highlighted Silva’s expertise in accreditation issues, so much so that representatives of the accrediting agency admitted his knowledge at a recent virtual meeting with the medical school.

Silva was the dean of academic affairs at the medical school, and there she did everything related to the credits. Segundo (Rodríguez Quilicini, former rector of the University of Medical Sciences) also tried to get things done, but she refused to do anything wrong. They took her out, but then Maldonado (former interim university president) appointed her as dean of academic affairs for the entire campus,” the informant explained.

In her place in the dean’s office for academic affairs, Ríos appointed Reyes a retired professor of dentistry, who at the last meeting with the middle states questioned how the accreditation process was going to work, because she didn’t know it.

Professors denounced the effects that this kind of academic infraction could have on a visit middle countriesscheduled next month.

Journalist Keila López Alicea collaborated on this story.