Student news fills a specific niche: it combines the experience of studying with, for most students in the UK, being a somewhat temporary resident in a new area. Currently, for students in the UK, this often means facing being a first-time renter in an increasingly expensive new city, getting accustomed to living without parents, and navigating a new social life far away from those parental eyes.
Halfway across the world, in Chile, being a student is quite different. Whilst their days might also be filled with reading and classes, most students still live at home whilst attending university. Santiago’s metropolitan region is home to 40 percent of the Chilean population and holds at least 35 universities alongside many other private institutes. Many of the larger universities, be that public or private, have satellite campuses in other parts of the country, making it very common for students to live at home whilst studying. This also makes the idea of renting student accommodation owned by universities or sharing a house with other students in a completely different city quite foreign to a Chilean student.
This of course makes for a very different kind of scene for student journalism, especially depending on what kind of university one attends. At the time of our interview, Sebastian Cornejo was the director of The Pontifical Catholic University of Chile’s student newspaper. We spoke about what it is like running the paper in both practical terms and the themes and issues that his paper focuses on, writing both for a student body and in the context of Santiago and Chile more generally.
The student publication is called PUClítcio, which stands as an acronym for the University, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC) and ‘litco’ as in ‘’politico’- political in English.
Running the paper
The paper doesn’t have a print edition, but instead focuses on multimedia output on its website and across social media platforms, like Instagram.
In the University and Chile more generally, the culture of ‘societies’ like we have in the UK is slightly different; they don’t have societies as such but various student organisations that are recognised by their universities and receive a small grant to aid their operations.
PUClítcio is amongst those — they receive the equivalent of 500 dollars per year, which they use to pay the fee to host their website. They then divide up the rest to buy any extra equipment they might need, like cameras and microphones.
The team is made up of a mix of journalism students and students from other degrees. It is led by the Director, underneath whom is the editorial table which comprises three general editors that lead the coordinators of various sections or themes like culture, sport, and news. Cornejo tells me they generally meet as a whole team once a month to decide the vision and major projects for that month, alongside other smaller topics that will be coming up.
Just like student newspapers in the UK, the paper mainly focuses on stories that are connected to student issues and the University itself. The kind of stories Cornejo and his team cover and have covered shows a glimpse into the political and social context of Chile.
Politics and demonstrations
2023 was an important year in Chile’s history. 11 September of that year marked 50 years since the Coup d’etat of General Augusto Pinochet and military forces which led to 17 years of a military dictatorship. During the coup, military forces took hold of universities. Cornejo’s team made several reports in commemoration of this.
One report was on fatal victims who were a part of the University community, students and faculty alike. They also filmed three video interviews with people of various professions and their experiences of that day, the time afterwards, and how it interacted with their lives.
Another important date, which they cover annually, is ‘8-M’ International Women’s Day. Each year the main avenue ‘La Alameda’ is taken up by a feminist march.
The march focuses on gender-based issues that affect the country such as gender-based violence, femicide, and abortion. Feminist movements in Chile are deeply connected with other forms of political organising.
Given its lack of more radical occupations, ‘Casa Central’ (central house, or central campus) of the Católica has only been occupied three times in 50 years. One of those was on March 8 2018 by feminist students in the University to fight for better recognition and clear support for victims of assault, especially if those had taken place within the University campuses.
The paper takes time to reflect on and invites conversation around these movements. Given their diverse body of students, many political issues are indeed student issues. Many students in Chile are politically active and actively engage with movements, using their role as a student and the power they have within the University to fight for these causes. A good example of this was the student involvement in protests in 2019.
On October 18 2019, students began to jump the turnstiles in the metro en masse as a reaction to the prices going up by 30 pesos, equivalent to 30p. This in turn started mass protests based on burgeoning issues of the inequality that the country has been facing for a long time. The protests were heightened by police violence in response and lasted months, leading to a large number of the population out on the streets. More recently the publication wrote a piece reflecting on this time, and students’ involvement in the wider political sphere in Chile.
The Student Federation
A big focus for the newspaper includes extensive coverage of elections for the Students’ Federation of the University (La Federación de Estudiantes de la UC ‘FEUC’). This could be considered similar to the election of Student Executive Officers in the Students’ Unions in Manchester. The Students’ Federation has an important role both as a voice for students within the University and its faculties but also politically, nationally and within the University.
Student strikes and parties
For students in Chile, it has become practice to go on strike (paros) and hold occupations (tomas), to fight for better standards of their education within the University, and also to coincide with wider issues.
Cornejo explained that La Católica is traditionally a more conservative university that doesn’t tend to hold as many strikes or occupations. Often, when they do, they are more symbolic, whereas, the neighbouring public university, La Universidad de Chile (The University of Chile), tends to be more radical, so students will vote to hold occupations, and no one will study. This often results in many students returning to university during the holidays to finish their modules.
Cornejo explained that in the University of Chile, the conditions are pretty awful, with broken bathrooms and classrooms amongst other infrastructural issues.
Students at the University of Chile occupied the central campus in support of Palestine, calling for the University to end exchanges and break ties with Universities in Israel. At La Católica students protested outside their central campus as well, but did not occupy the building itself.
Cornejo explained, “There is a big culture of strikes in Chile”. He was surprised by the idea of strikes being led by professors in the UK; for him and Chilean students, strikes are practically always carried out by students.
This also led us to another interesting culture difference: campus parties. Of course, in the UK, your Students’ Union might hold a club night, or a festival now and then, but never quite a party completely run by students on campus. This is a norm in Chilean universities, although it has become slightly more restricted over the years. Cornejo told me that in La Católica, alcohol is now banned from campus at these parties. Student parties instead have started to take place in clubs which host them; benefiting from the heavy footfall of students, they offer drink tokens in exchange. Cornejo explained to me that these parties are very important for students. Given most students live at home, these parties are a vital place for students to meet and party together. He tells me they often have fun themes like Y2K. He also said that the University of Chile, still holds party pres (previas) on campus, with student DJs, before the campus closes around 10 pm. Students move on to other parties from there.
University Issues
On top of reporting on the student elections, the paper also does investigations and reports to do with the university. Much like a recent Mancunion report into student placements in Sellafield, PUClítico covered a similar issue in which student teachers were being placed in dangerous schools.
“They send them to do placements in schools that are complicated, vulnerable, or prejudiced… they are dangerous. There are stories of assault or students being mugged, but the University doesn’t do anything. They keep placing them in these schools”, explained Cornejo.
Arts and Culture
Cornejo expressed his wish for the paper to focus on more cultural topics. They have been covering various rising music artists and giving focus to the often underrepresented women in the genre of Chilean urban music.
All over the world, students make up a diverse intersection of identities, political interests, and opinions. Tracking student news and voicing opinions is an important job for any student journalist. You can find updates and news stories from PUClítico on their Instagram @ el_PUClítico.
Quotes from the interview have been translated from Spanish. The meaning has been kept as close as possible to the original language, while also maintaining clarity in English.
Interview with our departing Wellbeing & Liberation Officer: Aisha Akram
