During the past few weeks, an email containing details on new cafeteria policies, among them a “Bring your own baunan” and “’No tambay policy”, circulated among students. There were adverse reactions from its recipients—some said that bringing lunch boxes were a hassle, some said that students should not be restricted from staying in the caf.
A closer inspection of the email, however, raises doubts about its validity. For one thing, it contains informal notes and comments, as if it came from the minutes of a meeting. And indeed it came from that. We wonder, though, why it was forwarded to many students.
The data in the email was “raw,” according to a Council of Organizations of the Ateneo officer The GUIDON interviewed. Thus, the officer said, the student reactions were also raw.
The Sanggunian recently released an official statement on the information leak, which was purportedly attributed to block and course representatives. President Omi Castañar said that the “only problem” with the information leak was that it broke certain Sanggu protocols, in particular, its Code of Internal Procedures.
However, to root the information leak issue solely on certain rules that were not followed can be misleading.
Some might see the information leak as a petty issue that causes no substantial rouse in general student interest, unlike last year’s hyped dress code issue. However, we can still see the apparent trend regarding misinformation, and the various repercussive stands, that in the end, prove to be founded on unstable ground.
The Sanggu’s responsibility to be transparent to the student body is a given. But this doesn’t justify some Sanggu officers’ non-knowledge on specific organizational policies. This is a concern not only for the Sanggu, but also for other organizations whose actions may have a direct consequence to the Ateneo studentry.
The solution simply isn’t to follow up with a systematic venue to re-establish the truth in rumors that are bound to prevail in the community at an epidemic pace. The purpose, after all, of the forum on new caf policies is to solve an environmental concern.
The proper handling of information, whether confidential or not, should start with those who are promising to provide the solutions.
