The Benito Juárez Autonomous University of Oaxaca (Spanish: Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca, UABJO) is a public university located in the city of Oaxaca de Juárez in state of Oaxaca, Mexico. The University was founded on January 8, 1827 as the Oaxacan Institute for Arts and Sciences. Initially courses were offered in Medicine, Surgery, Civil and Natural Law, Public Law, Canon Law and Ecclesiastical History, Political Economy, Statistics, Geography and Physics, Mathematics logic, ethics, English, and French. In December 1943, governor Major General Vicente Gonzalez Fernandez decreed that the Institute of Arts and Sciences would be granted autonomy. Then on January 18, 1955 General Manuel Cabrera Carrasquedo enacted a law elevating the Institute to University status. The school then became known as Universidad Autónoma "Benito Juárez" de Oaxaca. The university was named in honor of the full-blooded indigenous national to become president of Mexico, Oaxacan native Benito Juárez (March 21, 1806 – July 18, 1872). In May 2006, a teachers' strike began in the Zócalo in the Mexican city of Oaxaca, Oaxaca.