REPRESENTATIVES FROM various student groups aired their concerns on a broad range of issues during the first Sanggunian Town Hall held last Friday, June 16 in Faura AVR.
The Town Hall aimed to open an avenue of discussion for students’ concerns, and to present possible points of collaboration with organizations. According to Sanggunian President Ia Marañon, the Town Hall is in line with their recently released core principles as well as their electoral campaign of going “Forward Together.”
Top concerns
Among the top concerns raised during the Town Hall were sexual harassment, mental health, the Sanggunian Subsidy System (SSS), and the Integrated Ateneo Formation (InAF) program.
According to Marañon, there is currently an interim Office of Gender and Development headed by Rene San Andres. For sexual harassment cases, the administration will only step in for disciplinary cases while leaving the legal battles on the discretion of the victims. However, the administration is still open to assisting the victims in finding legal advice.
The Ateneo Human Rights Center is also planning to have modular workshops with a gender sensitivity curriculum of teaching, research, and outreach about sexual harassment.
The implementation of a Women’s Desk and gender-neutral facilities are still in discussion with the administration.
Meanwhile, Marañon said that there had been a change of leadership in the Office of Guidance and Counselling due to raised concerns of how they handle mental health cases.
A representative from Ateneo Psyche said that there are efforts from the Guidance Office for psychological first aid, but the additional therapy is inefficient and can only be provided by the Bulatao Center for Psychology Services.
As for the SSS, Union of Students for the Advancement of Democracy (USAD) Premier Billie Blanco raised several points about the allocation of the subsidy funds.
Blanco pointed out that occasionally changing the persons handling the SSS was problematic due to the possibility of varying standards affecting the approval processes, such as those for international conferences and theses. She then suggested that there must be a clear protocol system to control this.
Blanco also brought up the idea for need-based subsidies due to some concerns about the aid from the Office of Admission and Aid being insufficient.
The effectivity of the InAF in the Introduction to Ateneo Culture and Traditions (InTACT) program and immersion was also criticized by some Town Hall participants.
One participant said that the InTACT program was “useless” because it “did not include modules on practical procedures such as load revision.”
“It’s not marketed as something you would invest yourself on, unlike [National Service Training Program] where you actually learn from the requirements. It seems, in a way, illegitimate and useless,” said a participant.
Moreover, Vice President Benjamin Alvero III said that the InAF may “lack personal connection” to the communities if there is not enough discussion on the question, “how do the communities feel?”
Ateneo Assembly representative Janus Maclang noted that for the immersion program to become more effective, students should be serving the community with the disciplines that are aligned with the students’ interests.
Towards the national situation
More questions than answers were brought up within the discussion of the national situation.
“Amidst the national crisis, as students we are facing the question: ‘what can we do?’” said USAD representative Earl Delos Reyes.
Marañon mentioned that may student organizations may be feeling “forced to politicize” by releasing reactionary statements about current events. An Ateneo Project for Asian and International Relations representative said that their organization tries not to be too vocal. “We aim [rather] to be objective and describe what is going on,” he said.
On the other hand, Blanco said that reacting vocally to these issues is not enough. “Kaya nating lumabas. Wala lang avenue to do so. Hindi enough ‘yung reactionary dahil napaka-volatile ng national situation ngayon (We can go out of the campus. We just don’t have an avenue to do so. It’s not enough to be reactionary because the current national situation is so volatile),” she said.
Marañon responded by saying that Sanggunian is meant to be the unifying factor among all student groups that wish to make a stand on current issues.
Moreover, Alvero said that the students must look at other options when it comes to responding to the national situation. “The primary project of student groups is nation building. But the question is, ganun pa rin ba (is it still that way)? Is it still okay to think of citizen participation or should we take more orthodox ways with the involvement of the administration?” he said.
State of the Sanggunian
The Sanggunian also took the opportunity to give students an update of the current state and planned efforts of the school representatives for their respective constituencies.
For the School of Social Sciences (SOSS), future plans include a major curriculum review, assistance in applying for local and international conferences, revision of the SSS, the establishment of a Student Rights and Welfare Desk, and the creation of a liaison system among student groups.
As for the School of Humanities (SOH), the SOH Council will look into fortifying relations with the Council of Organizations of the Ateneo (COA)-Performing Arts Cluster and the Ateneo Resident Students Association by engaging the humanities community.
The SOH Sanggunian will also work to link its constituents with various conferences, workshops, and career immersion trips. They also plan on holding grand consultations on advocacy areas such as mental health, rape culture, freedom to cultural expression, and LGBTQA concerns.
The School of Science and Engineering Sanggunian is currently looking into rebranding its information campaign with its vision-mission and thrusts.
Finally, the John Gokongwei School of Management (JGSOM) Sanggunian is planning to establish a JGSOM formation program and an advocacy council with the coordination of the COA-Business Cluster.
Marañon said that there will be more Town Hall meetings in the future, which may cover topics including labor issues, death penalty, and the upcoming barangay elections.
