But at the elite University of Buenos Aires (UBA), the walls are turning black and elevators and air conditioning have stopped working in some buildings in the past week.

Professors are teaching classes of 200 without microphones or projectors, as the public university — among the best in Latin America — is unable to pay its electricity bill.

“This is an unthinkable crisis,” said Valeria Anón, a 50-year-old literature professor, at a protest against Milei’s austerity measures Tuesday in downtown Buenos Aires that drew thousands. “I feel very sad for my students and for myself,” she added.

In his drive to reach a budget surplus, Milei is slashing spending across the board, closing ministries, cutting funding for cultural centers, laying off public employees and eliminating subsidies.

On Monday, Milei said that Argentina had achieved its first quarterly surplus since 2008.

“We are making the impossible possible, even with most politicians, unions, the media and most economic actors against us,” he said in a televised address.

A large crowd of university students and professors marched from the UBA on Tuesday to join thousands of other demonstrators in the capital’s center. Some private schools closed in solidarity.

The protests were mirrored in other Argentine cities.

In a sign of the broader ideological battle underway, union members and supporters of leftist parties also filled the streets.

Since July, when Argentina’s budget year begins, the 200-year-old UBA has received just 8.9 percent of its budgeted funds, even as it grapples with annual inflation of 290 percent.

The university has said it is struggling to keep the lights on and maintain basic services at its teaching hospitals, which have reduced capacity.

After declaring a state of financial emergency, the UBA warned last week that without a bailout it would close within months, interrupting the studies of 380,000 students.

The prospect has sent shock waves through Argentina, where free, quality university education is seen as a birthright.

The UBA has a storied intellectual tradition, having produced five Nobel laureates and 17 Argentine presidents.

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