STUDENT ORGANIZATION leaders of Kalayaan College found that parts of the proposed 2016 Kalayaan College Constitution had been lifted from the 2005 and 2010 Constitutions of the Sanggunian.
The proposed Constitution, which was amended by their student council (SC) and several other parties, was denied by the school’s administration.
While the reason for the Constitution’s rejection was not released by the administration, the organization leaders strongly believe that it was due to its heavy plagiarism, and how policies for a large university such as the Ateneo could not be applicable to the context of Kalayaan College.
When the documents were compared, up to 245 words in a row were taken verbatim, as well as several consecutive articles whose only differences were school names and appropriate positions.
According to a source close to the school administration, the 2014 Kalayaan Constitution had also been involved in plagiarism issues. However, the parties involved, namely, the 2013-2014 SC, did not receive any disciplinary actions.
In spite of this, the succeeding 2014-2015 SC continued to push for its ratification, and passed it on to the current (2016-2017) SC officers for further efforts. In effect, the 2016 edition of the Constitution is the original 2014 one with some edits.
Under-the-table amendments
According to the organization leaders, many of them were distraught when they discovered that the SC was amending the Constitution without their knowledge, along with other parties such as former SC members and leaders from only select organizations, such as the Kalayaan Law Society (KLS).
Before the final draft of the Constitution was passed to the administration for approval, the SC vice president disseminated copies to the organization leaders for a possible constitutional convention.
Upon viewing the amended Constitution, they found that the writing style was peculiar due to how it “did not look like any previous Kalayaan College Constitution.”
One of the organization heads acquired a copy of the 2005 Sanggunian Constitution, and found that many of the questionable parts of the Kalayaan Constitution had been lifted from that of the Sanggunian’s.
Cumulatively 2,126 consecutive matching words were found. When compared to the 2010 Sanggunian Constitution, 498 more words consecutively matched.
Addressing the issue
The organization leaders noted that plagiarism and communication among parties should be exposed as topics of discourse to the student body in light of the issues that have been happening in Kalayaan.
“Personally, I think the issue of plagiarism should be brought up to the student body only because [not going to lie], only a few people know. Mostly the org presidents know,” said one.
“I agree, the plagiarism issue needs to be brought up since this isn’t the first time it has happened and it looks like nobody actually learned from the first attempt,” said the vice president.
“The consti debacle is also part of a longer saga of hilarious (though more minor) botches. And the lack of communication from all parties are definitely making things worse,” said another organization leader.
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to reflect developments in the issue. Ben Villanueva is not a member of the Student Council and is not involved in the amendment of the Constitution.
