Vasconcelos returned to Mexico during the interim presidency of Sonoran Adolfo de la Huerta and was named rector of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (1920)Krauze, Redeemers, p. 61 As rector, he had a great deal of power, but he accrued even more by ignoring the standard structures, such as the University Council, to govern the institution.Krauze, Redeemers, p. 62. Rather, he exercised personal power and began implementing his vision of the function of the university. He redesigned the logo of the university to show a map of Latin America, with the phrase "Por mi raza hablará el espíritu" (The spirit will speak for my race), an influence of Rodó's arielismo.Krauze, Redeemers, p. 62 It also had an eagle and a condor and a background of the volcanic mountains in central Mexico. Vasconcelos is said to have declared, "I have not come to govern the University but to ask the University to work for the people."Quoted in Krauze, Redeemers, p. 62.
