The Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS) will channel its staff members’ contributions to support communities affected by the earthquake. The initiative seeks to turn individual contributions from the university community into collective support for those impacted by the emergency.
An institutional decision to channel solidarity
The Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS) will ask its staff members to donate one day’s salary to support people affected by the earthquake. The University will coordinate with the National Government to allocate the funds raised and contribute to assistance for affected communities.
Several expressions of solidarity from members of the University’s academic and administrative community prompted the measure following the emergency.
“Entonces la universidad ha tomado varias directrices, una de ellas es solicitarle a los empleados de la universidad un día de su salario para que lo donen para estos hermanos damnificados, pero cuando tengamos los recursos la idea es focalizarlos en cooperación con el gobierno nacional”, explained Hernán Porras Díaz, UIS Rector.
The measure seeks to bring together individual contributions from staff members and turn them into collective support for people facing the consequences of the earthquake.
A collective effort to support affected communities
The Vice-Rector’s Office for Academic Affairs explained that the decision emerged from the need to channel the different initiatives of support that began to take shape within the University.
“We have had quite a few separate initiatives from different people within the institution’s academic and administrative community, and the Academic Council then decided to find a way to channel all those efforts, all those expressions of willingness to support society, to support the people who are currently going through a difficult time because of the tragedy,” said Gerardo Latorre Bayona, UIS Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs.
The University seeks to ensure that individual contributions achieve a greater collective impact, particularly for people in remote areas where the earthquake caused significant damage.
“That we could group those efforts together, achieve a greater pool of support and be able to deliver those resources that people are willing to donate, as we are proposing that it be one day’s salary from each of us, which individually may not be a large amount, but collectively it can be significant in supporting people in remote areas where the tragedy hit them hard,” Latorre Bayona added.
Human Resources supports implementation of the measure
The Human Resources Division is supporting the process to implement the institutional decision and advance the corresponding arrangements so that the resources can reach people affected by the earthquake in a timely manner.
The division emphasized that the purpose of the measure is to ensure that the assistance has a real impact and reaches those who need it.
“It is a salary where the University has also decided to send it so that the assistance is effective and reaches all the people affected by the earthquake in a timely manner,” explained Olga Patricia Chacón, Head of the UIS Human Resources Division.
The one-day salary donation adds to the other actions the University has undertaken to support communities affected by the emergency, as part of an institutional response that brings together the solidarity of its university community and the needs of those facing the consequences of the disaster.
Through this initiative, the UIS turns the individual willingness of its staff members to help into a collective effort to support people affected by the earthquake.
