We find ourselves in unusual and precarious circumstances. The COVID-19 pandemic has distanced us from one another. At the same time, the government has capitalized on this crisis to erode our fundamental rights and constrict our democratic spaces even further.
As the UP Diliman (UPD) chancellor, Fidel Nemenzo faced those incursions on our rights head-on. Under his term, we have seen an imperfect yet steady and cautious return to in-person classes. Under his term, we have seen the campus continue to be a hallowed ground for our most cherished rights and freedoms. On these grounds, Nemenzo has cleared the bar for what the Collegian regards as crucial considerations for the next UP president: a civic-minded leader who hopes not so much to reinvent the wheel as to nurture and protect all that the university already holds dear—the students, our freedoms, our democratic values—at this troubled historical juncture.
A Nemenzo presidency promises to assert, above all, the primacy of in-person learning beyond the classroom. His clear-eyed resolve to reopen our campuses outweighs the other nominees’ promises of normalizing remote learning as a viable option for a UP education.
We need not look any further. In September, following a similar directive from President Danilo Concepcion, Nemenzo released a marching order to implement the full reopening of the Diliman campus by the second semester. Meanwhile, other nominees who bandy about such buzzwords as “cyber-university,” “modernization,” and “digital transformation” seem to lamentably miss how onsite learning remains the lifeblood of the UP community and UP education itself. There is much to be learned and appreciated from immersing oneself with the individuals on- and off-campus—faculty, staff, urban poor communities, farmers, workers, indigenous peoples—the sectors UP students pledge to serve.
Nemenzo’s insistence on a return-to-campus policy calls for more than just warm bodies on the ground. Under a Nemenzo administration, we can expect a recalibration of UP education following a planned review of the general education (GE) program, which the other nominees have failed to even touch on. Instead, most of them favor doubling down on specialization tracks, even floating ideas like double degrees, minor-major programs, and research for industries’ sake.
By contrast, a vigorous GE program aspires to produce well-rounded professionals who, as many public health experts, for example, demonstrated during the pandemic, grasp the complexities of humanity and treat people with dignity.
After all, quality, relevant, and holistic UP education is the groundwork for the university’s commitment to public service. Nemenzo told the Collegian Editorial Board that “we need people who are well-versed in their disciplines, who know how their actions impact society.” Fundamental to his vision for a post-pandemic higher education—a reinvigorated “tatak UP” education—is an enabling environment, where a free flow and exchange of ideas is welcomed, not vilified. He vows to guard the life of the mind. In a crowded field of presidential nominees, Nemenzo sets himself apart in his emphatic vindication of academic freedom—the keystone of scholarship, activism, and everything else in between in UP.
His track record speaks for itself. In September 2020, after Chairperson Prospero De Vera admonished him for allowing rallies in UPD at the height of the pandemic, Nemenzo asserted before the UP Board of Regents the people’s right to freedom of expression, saying he “had to perform a balancing act between strictly enforcing the [health] restrictions … and allowing the exercise of constitutional rights of the people.”
At a time when attacks on UP’s autonomy are on full throttle—the looming budget cut, the planned reimposition of mandatory military training, and various rights violations—Nemenzo has proven himself to be a staunch defender of not just academia, but also the broader sectors outside the university.
With Nemenzo at the helm, UPD remained a safe haven for activists and marginalized groups, such as the displaced Lumad youth whom his administration welcomed and built a school for in the College of Fine Arts.
That said, Nemenzo is far from perfect. Should he become our UP president, he will have to reckon with some of the issues that beset his term as chancellor, such as his perceived indifference to students’ conditions, especially regarding his questionable policies on class suspension. But these days do not call for an immaculate UP president. Our unusual and precarious times call for a steadfast leader with a relevant and feasible mission for the university.
The last time the Collegian endorsed a UP president nominee was in 1993, in support of Francisco Nemenzo Jr. In our editorial, we wrote that the “determination of the next UP president is necessarily a determination in vision.” For the members of the UP Board of Regents, their vote on December 9 will be a choice between further encroachment on or protection of our democratic spaces and rights.
In his message to the UP community shortly after being selected as the 10th Diliman chancellor, Nemenzo committed to preserving and defending academic freedom and democratic governance. Nearly three years on, amid the Marcos presidency and a pandemic in its dawn, Nemenzo offers himself anew, still with those unflinching stances and audacious hopes for a future UP deserves. He has our endorsement. ●
Read our interview with the six presidential nominees here.
