Let us celebrate six decades of SEFI

On September 19, 1962, a group of alumni from the 1927-1931 class of the then National School of Engineering of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) invited Dr. Ignacio Chávez, rector of our institution, to a meeting commemorating its 30th anniversary and informed him of what its members had accomplished during that time for the benefit of Mexico, thanks to what they had learned at their university.

Engineering Alumni Meeting on September 19th, 1962

In his response, Rector Chávez, in a memorable speech, thanked them for "rendering an account of their activities to their alma mater" and invited them, "in a gesture of dignity, all professionals who have graduated from a university school or faculty, to join together in an alumni society... that by a pact of honor they would keep in touch with their school, and that, recognizing that the debt incurred [is] one that is never repaid, they would continue to support it indefinitely..." by pledging to contribute the symbolic annual fee of — 200 pesos— to the university throughout their lives, in an act of gratitude that would also permanently bind them to it.

Miguel Beltrán Valenzuela, leader of his generation, took that invitation as a life commitment, as "an act of faith," as an indissoluble pact with his school. He led, with boundless enthusiasm, a group of 19 engineers —today we number several thousand— who, 60 years ago, founded this distinguished group, the Faculty of Engineering Alumni Society (SEFI, Sociedad de Exalumnos de la Facultad de Ingeniería). The noble objective was —and is— none other than to be the vehicle for the graduates of what is now the Faculty of Engineering at UNAM to "support the university, and particularly its faculty, financially and morally; and to give back, in a symbolic way, some of the much they have received from it." One of our first actions was the restoration of the wonderful Palacio de Minería, the birthplace, headquarters, and symbol of Mexican engineering.

I write this article in memory of that group, of which I am the only survivor, and as an exhortation to the current members of the group for impeccable continuity, and as a proposal to other university students, to emulate this group, which has not only fulfilled its original objective but has also been a source of inspiration for various actions and organizations, of which I briefly describe a few in which I have been fortunate to participate.

I have had the unique privilege of having been invited to participate in the birth of SEFI, and of having held, over these 60 years, with enormous satisfaction, all the positions and responsibilities in the society, as a founding member, honorary president (when I was director of the Faculty of Engineering from 1978 to 1982 and, therefore, a direct beneficiary of SEFI's unconditional and ongoing support), president of the Board of Directors from 1985 to 1986, and member of its Honorary Council.

The extraordinary experience of SEFI led me, years later, to propose to rector Guillermo Soberón, when I was Assistant Secretary of UNAM, the creation of Club Universidad, so that university alumni would manage the Pumas professional [football] team on behalf of, and for the benefit of, UNAM; assuming administrative, athletic, and financial responsibility of the team, which "could not and should not —as the rector said— pay Cabinho, our greatest player, more than Marcos Moshinsky, one of our greatest researchers." We proposed that any losses would be absorbed by the graduates, and that any surpluses would be given to UNAM for its substantive activities. This was achieved in a highly successful manner. "A leonine contract," as engineer Bernardo Quintana, the first president of the Pumas, whom I accompanied as vice president, ironically and fraternally pointed out, "but one that no true-hearted university student can refuse!"

Years later, as director of the Faculty of Engineering, I created, with Jorge Velasco as musical director, the Palacio de Minería Music Academy and its Symphony Orchestra —which will celebrate its 45th anniversary next year— and I invited, not only in the image and likeness of the SEFI, but also members of the same, 52 colleagues, the most devoted classical music fans, to join a board of trustees that would guarantee its permanence, in the face of some university turbulence —which occurs with some frequency in our noble home— that arose when I left the faculty's leadership, and which was later established as a civil association that functions exceptionally well, as evidenced by its 45 seasons of dazzling success.

The UNAM Foundation, which has done exceptional work to benefit our House of Culture and countless low-income university students who receive scholarships from it that allow them to study, is another organization that inherited the genes of SEFI.

Thus, SEFI has not only been an organization whose sole and noble purpose of financially supporting UNAM and its Faculty of Engineering has remained immaculate, untainted by the shadow of any political ambition, but also a nurturing mother of a wide variety of events and organizations, unique educational endeavors that support the substantive functions of the National University.

Let us joyfully celebrate these six decades of existence of an exemplary organization: the Faculty of Engineering Alumni Society of UNAM.

Javier Jimenez Espriú
Founding Member of SEFI
September 2022