ABSTRACT
After General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte overthrew the socialist govern-- ment of Chile in 1973, he brutally suppressed political dissidents, including students, banning student political organizations and dem-- onstrations. The universities were no sanctuary for radicals-Pinochet put military personnel in charge of their administrations. Many stu-- dents protested against the new restrictions placed on them, and some went so far as to criticize the government, but public protests came with severe consequences; consequently, the majority of Chilean university students decided they were not politically motivated in the late 1970s, and those who were did not align themselves with political parties in the way that student agitators had in the 1960s. Those committed to oppos-- ing Pinochet generally abandoned the universities and joined move-- ments that relied on guerrilla terrorist campaigns, or they focused on firmly but peacefully and carefully maneuvering for university reforms.1
