Several members of the Ateneo community—faculty, administrators, professionals, and staff—signed a statement on Wednesday, April 14 to express their disagreement with the Ateneo Board of Trustees’ decision to reject Manuel Pangilinan’s resignation as Chairman of the Board. (Read full statement here.)
“As a University, we should have applied the standards we usually apply to cases of plagiarism, the same standards we use in handling acts of intellectual dishonesty among our students, staff, professionals and faculty,” the statement said.
‘A serious offense’
Leadership and Strategy part-time lecturer Gabriel Lopez, recently decided to resign from his post. Lopez teaches organizational ethics in Organizational Behavior and Principles of Management.
“I would like to practice what I teach. I feel that there is a dissonance somewhere in our Ateneo organizational behavior ethics,” he said.
Lopez is referring to the Board of Trustees’ decision to reject Pangilinan’s offer of retirement.
He also said that he admired Pangilinan for taking responsibility but he hoped that Ateneo had “come out more strongly in condemning plagiarism.”
Theology Associate Professor Ruben Mendoza, Ph.D. also said that the board’s decision is an inadequate response to “the reality that the speech was delivered to an academic community where plagiarism is considered a grave or serious offense.”
“It seems that one standard is being applied to Mr. Pangilinan and another one for students and teachers,” he continued.
Mendoza added that though Pangilinan was not fully aware of the plagiarism done, the Board failed to address the issue of justice, which was a central part of the Church’s social teaching.
He also added that the board’s decision gave the impression that Pangilinan is indispensable. “I don’t think anyone is indispensable in any office and any reasonable person holding any office realizes this.”
Consensus?
In a status message on Facebook, Gabe Baleos (AB DS’10) questioned how their batch’s official response to the issue surrounding Pangilinan’s speeches was made. (Read full statement here.)
“I question the methodology that led to a supposed consensus, enough for that statement to be “batch 2010’s official response”… That [statement] does not speak for me. And with this statement of the faculty, it puts the batch 2010 official response as premature, half-baked, and undemocratic,” he said.
He added that instead of formulating a consensus statement, their batchmates who wanted Pangilinan to stay could’ve made a statement similar to what some members of the community did.
Sanggu: MVP should resign
On a meeting held on April 14, the Sanggunian Central Board voted on whether they would support Pangilinan’s retirement or not. Nine out of 15 officers voted that Pangilinan should resign. On Friday, April 16, Sanggu released its official statement with regard to the issue.
“The Sanggunian…calls on the Loyola Schools student body to remain critical and to continue its fight against academic dishonesty. Furthermore, it calls on the Loyola Schools student body to courageously demand responsibility and accountability when it is due as a true act of engaged Filipino citizenship,” the statement said.
Read Sanggu’s full statement here
Special faculty meeting
On Friday, April 16, a meeting attended by faculty and some members of Sanggu was held to discuss the issues surrounding the Board of Trustees decision.
According to Lopez, University President Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, SJ explained to the attendees the process which led the Board to arrive at its decision. Nebres said that the Board’s decision was the Catholic moral response.
In the meeting, Director and Assistant Professor of the Development Studies Program Leland Dela Cruz explained “the hurt of the faculty over the Board’s non-consultation with the academic community and the unclear signals it sent about plagiarism and cheating.”
At the end of the meeting, Nebres requested for the community to put closure to the issue.
Lopez also said that he decided not to resign from his post anymore.
Posted: 4/15/2010, 2:32pm
Updated: 4/15/2010, 3:26pm
Update 2: 4/16/2010, 1:10am
Update 3: 4/16/2010, 10:08pm
