THE RECRUITMENT period for the League of Independent Organizations (LIONS) in the Loyola Schools has been delayed to sometime in later September due to what the Office of Student Activities (OSA) calls “restructuration” in the placement of the organizations.
For the past two years, unaccredited organizations have held their respective recruitment periods one to two weeks after the Council of Organizations of the Ateneo (COA) Recruitment Week (RecWeek).
Preceding these years, unaccredited organizations have been allowed to recruit members together with accredited organizations during COA RecWeek for three days.
WriterSkill president Angela Natividad explained that in previous years, OSA would usually send reminders and guidelines prior to RecWeek. However, this year, the presidents noticed that no such updates were given. They opted to go directly to OSA and have their concerns addressed.
According to her, Natividad and Literary Society (LitSoc) President Iza Quiambao were informed during COA RecWeek by League of Independent Organizations (LIONS) Acting Formator Joy Adolfo that LIONS RecWeek would be delayed “until a few weeks’ time.” Both were shocked, as this delay meant that they would need to adjust their respective calendars of activities.
Restructuration by OSA
OSA Director Christopher Castillo defined the restructuration as a reevaluation of the services that they will be providing to the unaccredited organizations in relation to the accredited ones.
Castillo mentioned that there are three types of services they provide to organizations: formation services, administrative services, and financial services.
“The bigger picture is that we’re evaluating the services we’re providing. One of these is their recruitment period. There are things that accredited orgs have that unaccredited ones don’t; not just names and statuses, but privileges and benefits as well,” he said.
He explained that OSA’s support is appropriated based on the organizations’ fulfillment of their expected outputs and contributions to the community.
“With the privileges and benefits also come expectations of performance [from OSA]. Support for the orgs is appropriated. High expectations mean high involvement, and yield high support from us. Meanwhile, less expectations, less support,” he said.
Despite this, Castillo still believes that all organizations must be given support for at least their basic needs.
“Personally, at the end of the day, all our students are our students. They need to get some kind of basic services, but, in an appropriate way because of the finite resources,” he said.
LIONS left behind
Meanwhile, Natividad feels that through the restructuration of OSA, they are removing priority for unaccredited organizations.
“I know that the priority has always been with COA, and that’s okay, because that’s normal. But the problem is, at this point in time, it’s not like there’s any priority for us; it’s like there’s no space,” she said.
Leaders of unaccredited organizations have voiced out their concern regarding the delay in the recruitment period because it will also mean a delay in the activities they have set in their respective calendars.
The Sanggunian Liaison for the unaccredited student groups’ recruitment period Richard Mercado has been in constant contact with the OSA to emphasize the urgent need of the recruitment period for unaccredited organizations.
Natividad also stressed that aside from the disruption of activities, the delay of the recruitment period might discourage students to join unaccredited organizations.
“After COA RecWeek, students will already be invested in their orgs. So they’ll come to unaccredited orgs during recruitment period, thinking, ‘why should I join this kasi may orgs na ako?’” she said.
She added that even though unaccredited organizations aren’t as privileged as the organizations under COA, it is still relevant to allot a period for recruitment since accredited organizations started with an unaccredited status.
“The less chances you give to unaccredited orgs, the less likely they’ll become accredited, right?” she said.
Acknowledging effects
OSA promised that despite the delay in the recruitment, unaccredited organizations would not be left on their own.
“I just have to acknowledge that [a delay in the schedule of activities] is a possible effect. So best effort na lang din on the side of the office to accommodate whatever requests they may have in relation to mounting their particular activities,” Castillo said.
He added that he is planning to talk to unaccredited org leaders to further improve the services they will provide.
“One thing I would want to pursue within the year is to sit down with the unaccredited orgs and start asking them once again, ‘what is it that you really need?’ para we could find specific ways in helping them and start asking ourselves who is really in the best position to help them,” he added.
Castillo said that although the unaccredited organizations are given very limited resources, he hopes that this will encourage them to aim for an accreditation status.
“Being accredited is something [unaccredited organizations] could aspire for. But note that we know that not all unaccredited organizations want to be accredited. There are those that are perfectly happy where they are,” he said.
He mentioned that the unaccredited organizations would still be taken care of especially because of the potential they see in them.
“A good number of them, I think, are really promising and do bring value to the community. A good number of now accredited orgs started off as unaccredited eh. So mahalagang alagaan pa rin yung sector na iyon pero sa mga paraang naaangkop at makakayanan,” he added.
(A good number of them, I think, are really promising and do bring value to the community. A good number of now accredited orgs started off as unaccredited. So while it’s still important to look after that sector, it has to be done in appropriate and feasible means.)
Editor’s note: Angela Natividad is The GUIDON’s Vantage Magazine Editor.
