The void and the rector. Democracy and law at Universidad de Caldas Democracia y derecho en la Universidad de Caldas

Abstract

In 2017, facing the slogan of deepening democracy, Universidad de Caldas modified its rules to appoint the rector of the institution.  In 2018, the process to designate who would hold the position during the 2018-2022 statutory period began. The rules were insufficient to solve the problem that raised the outcome of the process.  The rector took office amid protests in which discretion, arbitrariness, illegality and illegitimacy were objected. This case, presented in a narrative manner throughout the text, has an explanatory power that allows understanding that gaps, breaches or anomies do not come from the norms, and therefore, the analogy is possible even with that norm of which it is considered to be void, the fact that there is voting in a process does not mean that there is democracy; democracy is not possible without rules, without laws, and that, with or without democracy, legitimacy is much more than a matter of votes.