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: March 13, 2025

Attack Types: Killings, Violence, Disappearances

Institution(s):University of Tolima

Region & Country:Americas | Colombia

New or Ongoing:New Incident

On March 13, 2025, a group of hooded students vandalized administrative offices and the main-entrance access system at the University of Tolima.

A video posted on the social media platform X shows hooded individuals using hammers to smash the turnstiles at the main university entrance while shouting “Students in struggle, students to power.” The hooded students proceeded to forcibly enter administrative offices, including the rector’s office and the Faculty of Education Sciences. The Office of the Vice-Rector for Administration and Finance estimated the damage to be roughly $400 million peso (approximately $20.4 million USD).

Scholars at Risk are concerned about violent and destructive attacks on campus, apparently intended to prevent the functioning of a higher education institution. While students have the right to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, including the right to protest content and events with which they disagree, they must exercise those rights responsibly and refrain from violence, especially on campus. 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.eltiempo.com/colombia/otras-ciudades/video-disturbios-en-la-universidad-del-tolima-en-ibague-encapuchados-generaron-panico-y-danos-en-la-institucion-3435273
https://www.instagram.com/el_olfato/reel/DHKAAaRJE3L/?locale=en_us&hl=en