The governing body of Santo Domingo Autonomous University (UASD) has requested "advice and training" from the National Drug Control Commission (DNCD) for its security forces. The decision reflects an awareness that "crack, cocaine, marijuana" and a rum-based hallucinogenic beverage are being sold from the back of cars parked at known distribution points throughout the university’s south central Santo Domingo. This practice received wide attention following a recent incident in which competing groups fought over access to one of these distribution points. With its enrollment of 110 thousand students, a sprawling, multi-gated, urban campus, chronic budgetary problems, and a stalemated system of governance dominated by powerful unions of student, professors, and staff, the UASD is ill equipped to combat its growing drug problem. University president Miguel Rosado noted that an earlier proposal to bring DNCD agents on campus had been rejected. He announced the vote of the University Council, which was unusual in that it was "nearly unanimous." William Martinez, president of the Dominican Student Federation (FED) and a member of the council, confirmed that "we oppose the insertion of any military forces" into the university. A papal bull founded the institution known today as the UASD in 1538, making it the oldest university in the Western Hemisphere.
