No different from other student councils, the UP Diliman (UPD) University Freshie Council (UFC) and its college-level counterparts went into the academic year challenged by vacancies and declining student political participation.

But with the highest student body representing the freshies, shiftees, and transferees (FSTs) of UPD selecting its executive officers this week, last year’s FST student leaders hope to turnover to a more complete council.

“Very centered on student representation yung issue, and we aim for all of the colleges’ FSTs to be properly represented in this incoming UFC,” Guia Mistades, UP College of Mass Communication UFC representative and head of the University Freshie Electoral Board, told the Collegian.

State of the Council

Given the unique nature of the issues facing the university’s FSTs, such as grievances related to the admissions process for new first-year students, the UFC was created to promote their rights and welfare and assist them with adjusting to university life. As a campaign-driven institution working alongside the USC, it is frequently the first exposure for many students to sectoral campaigns on campus.

UFC college representatives are either directly elected by their college’s FSTs or appointed by their college student council (SC). While any FST can run for a position at the university level, the representatives are the ones who vote on who makes up the executive committee–the highest organ of the UFC.

There will be a candidate in every executive committee position for this year’s UFC elections. While most candidates are running unopposed except for the chairperson position, the fact that there are candidates stands in stark contrast to the outgoing council, which saw all but the vice chairperson and the business manager posts unfilled.

Vacancies in the executive committee were a hurdle for the previous officers; the secretary-general and the previous vice chairperson eventually resigned later in the term, shrinking the already-low number of officers from three to two. Because of this, many committees were instead chaired by a UFC college representative.

“Sa operations namin, since wala kaming chair, wala kaming treasurer, wala kaming public information officer, naging mahirap for us kasi those are vital positions. Naging mahirap for us really yung internals namin,” UFC acting chairperson Lucas Buenaflor told the Collegian.

The council also saw its college FST representation incomplete last term. The Colleges of Education, Human Kinetics, Music, and Science were left without a representative, preventing the council from effectively reaching hundreds of students.

Things are expected to fare better this cycle, with Human Kinetics already choosing a representative for the incoming term. And as the last college FST election wraps up in November, most colleges are expected to send at least one representative to the UFC.

But certain colleges, especially those with a large student population, may still be left underrepresented. For example, the College of Engineering is entitled to three UFC representatives, but only two candidates ran this election to represent the college’s 1,012 first-year students.

Struggle for College Representation

FSTs also have to deal with underrepresentation at the college level–only seven colleges have an FST council, while the rest only have first-year batch representatives on their college SCs, who then may also serve concurrently as their college’s representatives to the UFC.

The seven colleges include the Asian Institute of Tourism, as well as the Colleges of Arts and Letters, Engineering, Mass Communication, Social Sciences and Philosophy, and Social Work and Community Development. The College of Science supposedly has one, but no one has sat on it since 2023 nor did they send a UFC representative last term.

Without standalone councils, FST representatives have to work within their mostly upperclassmen college SCs to have their concerns put on the agenda. And subsequently, these overburdened SCs will also have to shoulder much of the work in integrating the newly entered students into their college.

“We were given the freedom to do whatever but they never really guided us on how to maximize our position,” Trisha Balanquit, a former first-year batch representative on the Business Administration Council, told the Collegian.

Sustaining FST Engagement

Despite problems, outgoing FST student leaders did notice the relative improvement in FST participation, mainly through the “Build UP” freshie initiative, which was in partnership with Rise for Education - UP Diliman, in addition to the local college initiatives.

“We make it a point na we strategize well. Nilulunsad yung mga iba’t ibang campaigns in a way na kaya siyang i-digest ng mga FSTs, ng mga baguhang iskolar ng bayan,” Buenaflor said. “We make it a point na maayos naming napapaintindi sa FSTs bakit nangyayari ito.”

But the question becomes whether they can keep participation up. While the FSTs are highly engaged at the beginning of the year, their interest starts to dissipate as they grow more occupied with commitments, Engineering Freshie Council’s outgoing chair Juno Gayapa observed.

And with how intimidating the university’s political campaigns can be at first glance, quelling the hesitancy many FSTs felt when first entering the university was an important step in their integration.

“Despite all of those, we still really try to encourage the FSTs, and make them or help them see the bigger picture, na worth it naman. And marami silang magagawa dito sa university,” Mistades said. ●