The links between the city and the university, and the need to “intensify this relationship even more”, were the guiding thread of the proclamation of the Fiestas del Cristo, which was read last night by the rector of the University of La Laguna (ULL), Rosa Aguilar. The act, which marked the beginning of the festivities, was attended by the President of the Parliament of the Canary Islands, Gustavo Matos, in the Plenary Hall of the City Council; the mayor of La Laguna, Luis Yeray Gutiérrez; the major slave of the Slavery of Christ, Francisco Doblas, and the members of the Consistory, among other personalities.
The alderman greeted the town crier as “an adopted lagoon woman who represents the best values of our city, combining in perfect balance concern for the closest environment and her universal vocation, one of the hallmarks of this city declared a World Heritage Site. of Humanity”. Rosa Aguilar is also, assured the mayor, “a living example for thousands of women who fight to claim full equality and aspire to hold positions of maximum responsibility.”
The university-city binomial, “an issue that for me is of the utmost relevance and importance”, was the focus of most of Rosa Aguilar’s proclamation, who defended the historical role of universities as “spaces for free debate in which they can question established truths in order to obtain a deeper understanding of reality. We contribute knowledge and culture that make development”. And she gave as an example the university studies around the “origin and arrival in La Laguna of the brand new sculpture of Christ” that was “wrapped in a nebula of legends, until the investigations of Professor Francisco Galante enlightened us in detail about it ”.
Likewise, the rector of the ULL defended “the role that universities have in the social, cultural and economic revitalization of the cities in which they are inserted. And, although they are sometimes perceived as institutions far from reality, this is not the case”. “We wouldn’t make sense if we didn’t work attached to the territory -she continued- she, if we weren’t interested in the problems and challenges of our land, in the solution of crises. The volcanic eruption of La Palma has been a clear example of this”. As well as in Tenerife, “where we work with the neighborhoods of the municipality of La Laguna in their development, in new forms of job search, in the training of those who have had less training, helping them build their own public and decision-making spaces” . In this regard, she also valued the various joint projects carried out between the University and the Laguna City Council.
“I sincerely believe that much remains to be explored in this binomial of university students with their city, an area that has borne very good fruit over time, but from which I am sure that we all expect more. It is time, dear mayor and dear Corporation, to intensify this relationship even more”, added the rector of the ULL.
Likewise, Rosa Aguilar expressed that “if we want to generate qualified jobs for our young people and favor sustainable development, we have to prepare our municipality for it, with powerful infrastructures and adequate professional qualifications. For all this, they will have the University of La Laguna as a faithful and responsible ally”.
Finally, he insisted on the close ties of the institution with the city. “Even though the University of La Laguna has scattered campuses, we don’t want to leave La Laguna. We do not want disconnection, quite the contrary. We want to offer this extraordinary city everything we are and everything we do, we want our students to know it and live it intensely, that our graduates make it grow with their professional proposals, that our researchers, from the various areas of knowledge, continue working , in her and for her”, he concluded.
The Dalek Duo ensemble closed the act with a short performance.
