Over 40 professors emeriti and current UP officials penned a letter addressed to UP President Angelo Jimenez following their disappointment at the outcome of the UP Diliman (UPD) chancellor selection process which they deemed disheartening as it disregarded the “overwhelming sentiments and choice of the UP community.”
The 11-member UP Board of Regents selected UP College of Law Dean and Assistant Professor Edgardo Carlo Vistan II as UPD’s 12th chancellor last April 3. Vistan was selected despite being up against Fidel Nemenzo, the former chancellor, who was eyeing a second term and had the backing of three sectoral regents and Regent Raul Pagdanganan.
“We cannot quietly abide by a University administration that so callously and carelessly disregards our voice, and fails to live up to the ideals of democratic governance, academic freedom, academic excellence, and integrity that we have long fought for,” the statement read.
Among the signatories of the letter were Ramon Santos, a national artist for music; Maria Serena Diokno, a professor emeritus and former vice president for academic affairs; and Ramon Guillermo, a former UP faculty regent and director of the UP Center for International Studies.
The incumbent deans of the College of Social Work and Community Development, College of Arts and Letters, and College of Engineering also signed the letter.
The signatories challenged the BOR’s move to select Vistan, and asked Jimenez to explain the board’s decision. In selecting chancellors and deans, the BOR must follow “a process of consultation with the constituents of the constituent university based on standards and guidelines set by the Board.”
The open letter also included a comparison of the academic qualifications and administrative positions of the three nominees and established that the BOR went for the “most junior” candidate. Neither the UP Charter nor internal UP policies, however, dictate the minimum academic or administrative experience required of a chancellor.
The board’s decision not to pick the most senior nominee, in terms of teaching experience, however, is not new. In 2014, for instance, the BOR picked then College of Social Science and Philosophy Dean Michael Tan over former Chancellor Caesar Saloma. Saloma, who was then also seeking a second term, had longer teaching experience than Tan.
“The selection process is your first and most important milestone and benchmark, one that will define the rest of your administration … It is not too late to demonstrate transparency and accountability in the recent selection process. We also call on you (Jimenez) to publicly disclose the bases for your choice of Dean Vistan as Chancellor for UP Diliman, and as the co-Chair of the BOR, to encourage the other regents to do the same,” the statement read. ●
