It was quite the controversy in 1973 when Fr. Pedro Arrupe, SJ, then-superior general of the Society of Jesus, stood in front of the alumni of European Jesuit schools and said that the Jesuits have not educated their students for justice. In his iconic speech, Arrupe made a call to the community to be aware of the reality of injustice in the world; he challenged them to live more simply, to draw no unjust profit and to change unfair social structures.
Today in the Ateneo, Arrupe’s call to be men and women for others has become the prime educational objective of the university. It is one of the first things a freshman learns that makes him or her distinctly Atenean.
Over the years, we have seen graduates who went on to answer this call in various fields. Batch 2012 valedictorian Kenneth Abante chose to work for the Department of Finance and continues to invite Ateneans to serve in government. Roxy Navarro turned her passion for design into Works of Heart, a youth-led, socially oriented design company. Reese Fernandez-Ruiz co-founded Rags2Riches, Inc., a social business enterprise that partners with rug weaving communities and turns their products into bags and home accessories. What these three individuals have in common is their striking intention to serve, a quality that Ateneans today must constantly imbibe.
Atenean leaders’ efforts should be geared towards advocacy-driven initiatives—concrete projects aimed at empowering others—that go beyond merely ending their deemed “irrelevance” or winning the race to meet success indicators, such as near-complete attendance and excellent participant ratings.
Past instances have proven that the student body actively responds to calls for help when they come. The recent effort of the Ateneans for Agrarian Reform Movement in support of the coconut farmers is not an isolated case. One only needs to remember the outpour of students who volunteered for the relief operations of the university’s Disaster Response and Management Team to prove that Ateneans do care and are willing to help.
In 2011, the Loyola Heights community took to the streets to protest against the zoning exemption granted by the 17th City Council for the construction of Shoemart Development Corporations’ Blue Residences along Katipunan Avenue. Several Ateneans joined the Million People March last year and expressed their disgust towards the controversy involving the Priority Development Assistance Fund, which was later declared as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
Moreover, various student organizations have also created projects geared towards alleviating certain social issues; some organizations, in fact, were even established with a particular advocacy as their main mission statement.
Ateneans have been called apathetic, especially in light of past Sanggunian failures of elections. With roughly four months left of the school year, most students groups, the Sanggunian included, are beginning the process of electing, appointing or transitioning to their next batch of leaders. We should therefore use the time to reflect on just how much power we have as students: We have a say in who to put into these positions. Atenean leadership goes beyond the titles; service can be in the form of being critical with our choices.
If one were to consider the examples stated above, the supposed apathy of the Loyola Schools students may not be inherent as some speculate. Turning a blind eye seems to be–or should be–the exception rather than the norm.
The challenge for the current Atenean student leaders, then, is to continuously create projects and initiatives that will give their constituents the chance to actively fight for and give a voice to the oppressed, concretizing the call Arrupe made 41 years ago.
Arrupe’s challenge is not about the Atenean being the messiah of the world; we do not set out because we think we are the answer. To be a true man or woman for others is to live a life of service–nothing more, nothing less.
