At the turn of UP’s centenary in 2009, veteran activist Judy Taguiwalo signaled the need to elevate the struggle against UP’s trajectory that is increasingly leaning toward foreign markets and elite interests. “Tiyak na sa ika-21 dantaon magaganap ang mapagpasyang laban upang ang ‘unibersidad sa loob ng unibersidad’ ang siyang ganap na magiging Unibersidad ng Sambayanan.”
17 years later, monuments to this trajectory are already found throughout the university: big commercialized establishments alongside academic institutions, dilapidated student spaces neglected by administration officials, and the threat of a stripped-down curriculum hammering to students that only job prospects instead of holistic learning are essential to their education.
Such an unrelenting nature of this decades-long project to steer UP toward a commercialized and market-oriented education sets a dangerous path. With every batch that exits the university, its regressive character becomes more and more entrenched, rendering its reversal harder for new students to achieve.
But UP’s character of resistance still lives in its students, albeit weakened. Students have shown that they are not apathetic, and do care about issues important to them—whether that be national issues such as Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment, local issues like dorm slots and food prices, and even the attempt to redefine the university, evidenced by students mobilizing against DiliMall’s opening.
That resistance has been blunted, however, by fractures and mistakes among and within the student institutions that are supposed to lead the charge. Councils and the movement have been hounded by questions on genuine student representation and safe spaces. With detachment and distrust in these institutions by the studentry, any attempt to spearhead resistance becomes futile.
A recalibration is sorely needed in how these institutions engage with the studentry, now more than ever, as budget cuts have grown to be the largest in 20 years, the DiliMall project is fully underway, and UP’s most recent Core Curriculum proposal threatens to cut more general education subjects.
The task now for progressive organizations and the three student institutions—the University Student Council, the Office of the Student Regent, and the Philippine Collegian—is to reconnect with the studentry through outreach, rectification, and transparency, and show the community that the university’s trajectory can still be redirected.
For its 103rd year, the Collegian will relentlessly continue its tradition of critical journalism aligned with the marginalized sectors in the university and the country. But it continues this with the renewed objective of exposing the state’s national project to our mainly UP readership. It will do so through increased coverage of local college and university issues, always aiming to connect them with the wider fight against the state and the administration’s project to redefine the university against community interests.
Part of the Collegian’s commitment to our readership will be to reach out and disturb, wherever possible. It will cover all possible spaces: physical, through its print issues and coverages; and digital, through its social media pages. It is why the Collegian for this year will establish its newest addition, the multimedia section, to adapt to the changing times and demographics of the university and the country.
Most of all, the publication carries its tradition with the principle that the strength of its institution comes mainly from taking care of its membership and its accountability to its readership.
The publication reiterates its commitment to making the Collegian a safe space that fosters collective care and action. And it renews its commitment to transparency with its operations and openness to criticism through the issuance of financial reports and internal guidelines. It will also increase its partnerships, coverages, and direct interactions with the student body through providing more space for contributions, opening a dropbox for complaints, and being more responsive to messages.
These steps ensure that the Collegian’s thrust remains student and reader-centric. While the Collegian’s attempt to reach out to the studentry will not be limited to these actions, the spirit of openness and transparency upon which trust is founded must be upheld by student institutions to encourage participation and reinvigorate the movement.
Such is precisely what is needed in a university averse to disturbance, and a movement damaged by detachment and distrust. Our goal is to resist the administration’s project of redefining the new normal by building students’ trust and convincing them to take action. Because in the end, it is not any student institution that will solely move, act, and change UP’s trajectory—it will be the students and community themselves. ●
