UCSD Signs Agreement with Baja California University, Hosts Baja Governor

Barry Jagoda | April 21, 2008

President Tonatiuh Guillen Lopez, left, of El Colegio de la Frontera Norte (College of the Northern Border) shakes hands with Chancellor Marye Anne Fox April 17 after signing an academic agreement.

Chancellor Marye Anne Fox signed an agreement Thursday for long-term collaboration on a wide swath of academic and research areas with a leading university in the neighboring Mexican state of Baja California. The signing ceremony was followed by the first public lecture given in the United States by Baja’s new governor, Jose Guadalupe Osuna Millan, who spoke on a broad range of topics, including economic and social development.

The first projects covered by the agreement Fox signed with Tonatiuh Guillen Lopez, president of Tijuana's El Colegio de la Frontera Norte (COLEF), include an exchange of faculty members between the two universities and joint seminars that will use videoconferencing and focus on such topics as immigration and the economy. A new program on overall U.S.-Mexico relations involving COLEF, UCSD and other partners is being finalized. The Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies will lead the program at UCSD.

Left to right: Baja California Governor Jose Guadalupe Osuna Millan, Dr. Tonatiuh Guillen Lopez, Chancellor Fox and Professor Christopher Woodruff, director of UCSD’s Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies at the signing ceremony.

“We undertake our on-going partnership with Mexico as a public service to both of our peoples,” Peter Cowhey, dean of the school of International Relations and Pacific Studies, said Thursday at a press conference. “Baja is one of the things that makes this area so extraordinary and we are working on some of the social and economic change that is so necessary.”

After the signing ceremony, Cowhey, who also is the campus’ associate vice chancellor for International Affairs, introduced Governor Osuna, who spoke as part of the Charles Nathanson Lecture Series, named for the late former member of the UCSD sociology department. Cowhey mentioned that Nathanson had “as a main goal improving the quality of life on both sides of the border.” Also present were Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Paul Drake and Director of Urban Studies and political science professor Steve Erie, who, with Cowhey, oversee the Nathanson Lectures.  Moderator for the events was Chris Woodruff, professor of economics and director of the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies.

Dean Peter Cowhey spoke in tribute to the late Charles Nathanson, leader of the San Diego Dialogue and advocate of improving cross-border relationships, for whom lecture series is named. (Photo / Alan Decker)

Enhancing bi-national relations and boosting economic development in Baja California was the main focus of Osuna’s talk. Speaking briefly in English then in Spanish, with simultaneous translation, he said, “a common border is a great opportunity but also a great challenge.”

The governor, who was elected to office five months ago, said he had studied at UCSD in the early 1980s, preparing to take exams for proficiency in English as well as the Graduate Record Exam. But a bad economic turndown in Mexico caused the end to his studies here, he said. He delivered the rest of his remarks in Spanish.

The governor mentioned the “hard-working, can-do” spirit of his people and said his background was typical. Two of his brothers worked in the fields in Bakersfield, Calif., and sent money home so he could get an education. Eventually, he received a master’s degree and ran an economic think tank before getting into politics, becoming mayor of Tijuana and then leader of his state.

Baja Governor Osuna’s speech drew a large audience and was covered by a sizable media contingent. (Photo / Alan Decker)

According to the governor, Baja California has long had a tradition of free trade and international economic activity. About $2 billion were invested in the state in 2007 by foreign sources, with 25 percent coming from Japan.

Governor Osuna also touched on environmental issues, including clean water, wind generation, solar power and hydroelectric generation—the last two being heavily subsidized in the state by Mexico’s federal government.

The governor also spoke with visible pride about the plans for a new shipping container operation, Puerto Colonet, near Ensenada. This raised audience questions about the project’s environmental impact on certain potentially endangered species, about competition the port would create for Long Beach and Los Angeles and an inquiry about the source of energy for the facility. The governor said the project would not be competitive with California ports because goods would go by rail directly from Mexico to the U.S. Midwest and the West Coast, cutting down on congestion at Southern California ports.

Governor Osuna reviewed plans for economic and social development in Baja California and spoke of the need for cross-border cooperation on a large variety of issues.

In answer to another audience question, Osuna said he had been meeting with U.S. federal and state officials to try to improve movement across the border at San Diego and nearby crossings and “we have some modernization projects and some recent agreements which should improve border crossings.”

Later, in a news conference with reporters, Osuna took questions on commerce, the movement of people from Tijuana to San Diego for safety (“this is temporary and we are returning to a state of tranquility”), drug trafficking, a binational airport (“we are discussing use of our airport, and runways, with San Diego officials and this should be promoted”) and President Bush (“I met with him and he spoke Spanish”).

The signing, lecture and news conference took place at the Institute of the Americas Complex on the UCSD campus, where the events were coordinated by Graciela Platero and Rene Zentero, with assistance from Greg Mallinger, all from the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies.