For UP Mindanao (UPMin) constituents, it would be difficult to do better with the same person in charge.
Against the demands of the community, the Board of Regents (BOR) selected the incumbent Chancellor Lyre Murao to serve her second term, Thursday.
Around 200 students, faculty and community members then staged a protest to emphasize their campaign for a “better” UPMin that addresses their struggles and the administration’s shortcomings.
UPMin under Murao’s first term faced concerns of delays in student assistance distribution, limited student housing, campus militarization and problems in student spaces, among others.
Prior to the chancellor selection, students have been advocating for the 11-point student demands as a response to the shortcomings of Murao’s initially concluding term. The demands include calls for a transparent administration, safe environment for students and community members, timely scholarship system, and hiring and promoting more university workers.
But her recent vision paper did not address these issues with specific plans and instead focused on “transformative” education producing prepared graduates, personnel and faculty for internationalization.
This focus exactly aligns with the vision of UP President Angelo Jimenez for the university to be at the forefront of “transformative scientific, cultural and artistic pedagogy” in local and global communities.
Murao’s first term did not see the fruition of her vision during the 2022 chancellor selection. Her goals of achieving academic freedom and a safe, gender-sensitive environment were undercut as UPMin experienced increasing unresolved sexual harassment cases and instances of misgendering and gender discrimination under her leadership.
The chancellor claims one of the landmark achievements during her first term to be the R2-5K (Road to 5,000 Students) plan that aims to increase the population of students in UPMin to 5,000 by 2029 through launching new degree programs and implementing more inclusive admission policies.
This is despite the students’ persistent stance that the administration should focus first on addressing the lacking student spaces, dormitories and budget allocation by the current programs, colleges and organizations.
Murao’s reappointment follows the BOR’s pattern of ignoring sectorally supported nominees. Last year, the board selected UP Baguio Chancellor Joel Addawe over sectorally supported opponent Wilfredo Alangui, while the year before, they denied the UP Diliman chancellorship from another sectorally supported nominee, Fidel Nemenzo.
"Kung hindi sapat ang tatlong taon, ano ang tatlong taon pa. Hanggang ngayon ay hindi mo (Murao) pa pinagtitibay ang UPMin bilang bahagi ng UP System. Ang panawagan ng estudyante: Do better UPMin,” Architecture Student Council Chairperson Nicole Cagande said in Bisaya during the mobilization.●
