Higher education and the Ayotzinapa disappearances: institutional responses, memory work, and accountability in Mexican universities

Abstract

This paper examines how the enforced disappearance of 43 students from the Raúl Isidro Burgos Rural Teachers’ College (Ayotzinapa, Iguala, Guerrero, 26–27 September 2014) has shaped the roles, responsibilities, and governance practices of higher-education institutions in Mexico. Using a mixed-methods documentary approach, the study triangulates official registry data (RNPDNO), civil-society syntheses (Red Lupa and regional observatories), investigative reconstructions (Forensic Architecture; GIEI-related outputs) and contemporary journalism to analyse (1) the scale of disappearances in Mexico and selected trends relevant to university contexts and (2) how universities function as sites of memorialization, legal and psychosocial assistance, public pressure and, at times, institutional constraint. Two tables present registry snapshots and a timeline of institutional responses; interpretations of those tables are complemented by extracts from key informants (family members, lawyers, and academic actors) published in the public record. Findings indicate that the Ayotzinapa case has had enduring effects on campus life and governance: universities provide crucial spaces for memory and family-led advocacy, they are intermittent partners in forensic and legal efforts, and they face recurring tensions between academic autonomy and political pressures. The paper concludes with governance recommendations to enhance universities’ capacity to support victims and hold public authorities to account. forensic-architecture.org+2IMDHD+2