SAR’s Academic Freedom Monitoring Project investigates and reports attacks on higher education with the aim of raising awareness, generating advocacy, and increasing protection for scholars, students, and academic communities. Starting July 1, 2026, SAR no longer publishes reports for the incidents that it records. SAR continues to monitor and record incidents that will be used in the annual Free to Think report. This page provides a record of incidents reported up to that date. Learn more about the Academic Freedom Monitoring Project.

Date of Incident: September 26, 2024

Attack Types: Killings, Violence, Disappearances

Institution(s):Colegio Mayor de Cundinamarca University

Region & Country:Americas | Colombia

New or Ongoing:New Incident

On September 26, 2024, a group of unidentified hooded individuals vandalized the rector’s office at the Colegio Mayor de Cundinamarca University.

Video shows individuals climbing up a building’s exterior wall and gaining access to a university building. The university reported that unspecified items were stolen.

Scholars at Risk are concerned about violent and destructive attacks on campus, apparently intended to prevent the functioning of a higher education institution. In addition to the harm to the immediate victims, such actions undermine academic freedom and democratic society generally.

Sources:
*SAR identified this incident in data made publicly available by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED)
https://www.wradio.com.co/2024/09/27/universidad-colegio-mayor-de-cundinamarca-rechazo-vandalismo-y-violencia-en-sede-principal/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVlFrY_qYgI&ab_channel=ELTIEMPO