P.R. Laws tit. 18, § 612
(a) The University shall hold and retain as its own and shall enjoy all properties of whatever nature, rights, privileges and prerogatives acquired prior to this chapter and at present possessed, used or enjoyed by it, and those which it may hereafter acquire as determined in this chapter or otherwise.
(b) The University may approve, impose, revise from time to time and collect fees, duties, rentals and other charges for the right to use or occupation of any facilities owned or administered by the University, or for any service, right or privilege provided by any such facility or by the University, including, but not limited to tuition fees, student dues and other fees, rentals, charges, laboratory fees, breakage fees, books, supplies, dormitories, houses and other housing facilities, restaurants and their facilities, parking lots for vehicles, facilities provided by student centers, events and activities and other services. However, the children of Puerto Rican soldiers who have died in action, are missing in action or prisoners of war who enroll in any of the institutions of the University of Puerto Rico System shall be exempted from the payment of all the aforementioned fees and charges. The students shall submit the corresponding military status certification issued by the Armed Forces of the United States of America in order to avail themselves of this benefit.
(c) The University is hereby authorized to hold and retain as its own, and to use, devote, disburse, dispose of, pledge to the payment of any bonds, notes or other obligations from time to time issued by the University, invest and reinvest and administer in any other manner not inconsistent with the provisions of this chapter, and as the Council may find to be in the best interest of the University, all of the proceeds, receipts, profits and other income derived or to be derived by or in behalf of the University, from:
(1) The collection of fees, rentals, duties and other charges;
(2) donations, legacies, funds, gratuitous contributions, public and private, and investments;
(3) the possession of farms and other properties and their facilities;
(4) the sale or alienation of any property, real or personal, or any right or interest therein, and
(5) other operations, activities and programs of the University.
(d) The University is hereby authorized to accept gifts, donations, legacies or other aid provided by laws of the United States of America or by any other entity or person, and may seek and enter into agreement with the United States of America or any agency or instrumentality thereof or any other public or private entity, including foundations, corporations, governmental bodies or persons, for loans, donations, legacies or other aid. The University is hereby authorized to agree to and comply with the requirements, obligations, terms and conditions imposed in relation with any such loan, donation, legacy or other aid.
(e) The University is hereby authorized to borrow money for any of its purposes and activities and to issue, as evidence of such loans, bonds, notes and other obligations, including provisional bonds and refunding bonds (herein collectively called “bonds”). The Council may from time to time provide for the issuance of bonds subject to the provisions of §§ 581—595 of Title 7, and through resolution or resolutions to that effect, stating the purpose or purposes of each bond issue and the terms, conditions and other details related with the issuance of such bonds and the security pledged therefor. The bonds may be secured as provided in §§ 821—830 of this title, as amended or as may be from time to time amended, or in such other manner as the Council may determine, and may be issued in conformity with said sections or with such provisions thereof as the Council may deem advisable.
(f) Because it achieves a public purpose of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the University of Puerto Rico is hereby exempted from the payment of any taxes, imposts, duties, or fees of any kind whatsoever on all the properties of whatever nature heretofore or hereafter acquired by it, or on its operations, transactions or activities, or on the income derived from any of its operations, transactions or activities. All bonds, notes, mortgage obligations and other obligations of the University of Puerto Rico shall be exempt from the payment of any income tax. The debts or obligations of the University shall not be debts or obligations of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, nor of any municipality or other political subdivision of Puerto Rico, and neither the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico nor any municipality or political subdivision of Puerto Rico shall be liable therefor.
(g)
(1) University intramural practice plans. — The University of Puerto Rico is hereby authorized to create university intramural practice plans within its units. Through these plans, the institution can contract with domestic or foreign public and private persons and institutions, those services the latter may require and in which the University of Puerto Rico may render services as volunteers during or outside their regular working hours, without undermining their academic duties and for which they may also receive retribution as compensation for work outside their regular working hours or as a bonus for the discharge of their teaching and administrative duties within their regular working schedule, in addition to their regular salary as employees of the institution.
(2) The university intramural plans authorized herein shall be self-sufficient, and the funds collected by the University on account of the university intramural practice plans shall be deemed to be public funds, subject to the scrutiny of the corresponding authorities. Said revenues shall be consigned in a special fund within the University of Puerto Rico units generating the same, and shall be used in the first place, to defray the compensation for the participating personnel and the direct expenses of said programs; in the second place, to strengthen others with a lesser demand within the Intramural Practice Program; and in the third place, to cover other non-recurrent, top priority expenses within the Campus itself or within the unit of the Regional College system, and for an annual contribution to the General Fund of the University of Puerto Rico.
(3) The Board of Trustees of the University of Puerto Rico may delegate on the President of the University and the Chancellors, the power to contract individually. Furthermore, the Board shall establish, through regulations, the norms and procedures that shall govern the establishment and operation of the intramural practice plans in the various units, and the manner in which the teaching and the supporting personnel shall participate and be compensated.
(4) The participation of the teaching and the supporting personnel of the University of Puerto Rico in these university intramural practice plans shall not be subject to the provisions of § 551 of Title 3.
History —Jan. 20, 1966, No. 1, p. 85, § 13; Aug. 31, 1996, No. 174, § 1; renumbered as § 12 on Aug. 7, 1998, No. 186, § 9; Aug. 30, 2006, No. 174, § 1.