USC, OSR spearheaded UPLB Summit 2014

By: Mary Anne Gudito

UPLB students gathered last night, October 21 at the Makiling Ballroom Hall to participate in the discussions regarding university issues and academic policies through the UPLB Student Summit 2014. The event was initiated by the University Student Council (USC) and the Office of the Student Regent (OSR), along with partner student organizations.

In his discussion about the UPLB Situation, USC Chairperson Allen Lemence highlighted two main points- one was upholding democratic, consultative and transparent governance, and the other one was upholding UP as a university of the people.  Student Regent (SR) Neil John Macuha, on the other hand, discussed the current state of UP. He referred the institution as ‘commercialized, colonialized, and fascist’.

“According to the Center for Nationalist Studies in UP Diliman, the state of UP may be summarized in three: commercialized, colonial, and fascist. Commercialized kasi po tinatrato na parang negosyo ang edukasyon natin sa UP,” said Macuha.

He also raised the issue of the UP Master Development Plan, which, according to him, is the ‘next big thing’. With its principles and guidelines approved by the Board of Regents (BOR) on July 2014, this causes alarm for it widens the opportunity of financial generation zones in UP. He reminded the students to keep watch on this issue.

Caucuses were held right after the open forum, with members of the USC as facilitators for small group discussions that dealt with in-depth analysis and action planning regarding specific university issues tackled during the main discussion. However, drafting and presentation were set to a later date due to time constraints. [P]