Teaching Marxism in the Humanities. The Affirmation of Autonomy at the University of Costa Rica

Abstract

This contribution reviews and recalls one of the most important moments in the history of the Universidad de Costa Rica in its institutional defense of the university autonomy and academic freedom, which ocurred in 1967 within the historical framewok of the Cold War. The call for a round table by the Chair of Philosphy at the General Studies Department, to discuss Marxist philosophy, generated criticism and attacks originated in a militant anti-communist organization, labeled Movimiento Costa Rica Libre, which sought to question freedom of thought and weaken its academic practice in the only university of the country, a public one. As part of this article, the text of the round table is transcribed as a document for posterity.