[1] The seizure began after a group of students, after an assembly was called in the Aula Magna, went to the University Council meeting room, threw tear gas canisters and beat up both security guards and professors.

The occupation lasted for 36 days, during which the violence escalated until 3 May, when the student community decided to respond to the classes suspension and expelled the occupiers by force from the rector's office.

[2] During his tenure, Giannetto appointed Héctor Navarro as postgraduate director and Nelson Merentes as coordinator of the scientific development council, the two most important academic positions after the deans.

[2] On the morning of 28 March 2001, a group of students from different faculties and schools of the university called an assembly in the Aula Magna, which was joined by some members of the labor union and professors.

At the same time, in the meeting room of the University Council (UC), the debate between the authorities and student representatives was taking place normally.

[2] When the students arrived from the Aula Magna, among whom the occupiers assume the action as "an act of cowardice" on the part of the rector, the professors came out to try to mediate with them, telling them that they were discussing in the board of directors and that they were about to be received.

The most radical, among whom the rector highlighted Adina Bastidas, Eliécer Otaiza, Iris Varela and Freddy Bernal, fervently defended the occupiers, while the more moderate currents remained neutral.

[2] The rectorate takeover was one of the most violent episodes at the university since the 1984 Tazón massacre, when National Guard soldiers shot and wounded at least 35 students, although none of them died.