El Salvador

For the first time since government troops occupied their campus nearly three years ago, faculty members at the National University in El Salvador hope they will soon be allowed to resume teaching classes there.

A government decree issued last month stated the reopening of the campus was in the national interest and that it should be accomplished as soon as possible.

The campus, in the capital city of San Salvador, was seized by the military in June 1980, in response to what government authorities said had been an intolerable amount of subversive activity.

Since that time the university--which since its founding in 1861 has been responsible for almost all higher education in the country--has held classes at makeshift locations scattered across the city, most of them private houses and apartments.

Faculty members interviewed by Americans said the military had destroyed and sacked many university buildings, including the medical school's laboratory and classroom center.

While the government might allow the campus to be reopened, it has also said that it has no funds to operate the university. The Chronicle of Higher Education