Speak Up: A Face-to-face Dialogue with the AB Student Council and Administration

ABSC President Marie Jann Klaire "Majann" Lazo Speaking in front of the student body

Members of the ABSC sitting in front of the students during the face-to-face dialogue

Assistant Dean Narcisa N. Tabirara speaking in front of the student body

Members of the AB Administration present for the face-to-face dialogue

Photos by Jann Kayla C. Mendoza

      “Speak Up,” a face-to-face dialogue with the administration and AB Student Council was held last February 10, 2015 (Tuesday), at the AB Lecture hall.

A part of celebrating this academic year’s AB Week is the event, “Speak Up” which aims to conduct an open forum among the administration, AB Student Council and students of the faculty of Arts and Letters.

In the event, the students of the Faculty of Arts and Letters were given a chance to ask questions regarding the issues happening within the AB community as well as the plans of the administration and the student council.

The event was supposedly scheduled to start at 8:00 am, but started an hour later. Though the members of the student council came early, they had to wait for the members of the administration to come before they started with the forum.

The members of the administration came late because of other matters in the office that they needed to attend to. By the time that they came, students of the Faculty of Arts and Letters have already flooded the Lecture Hall.

The venue was not spacious enough to accommodate the number of students who attended the event. Students who were not given seats stood by the corners of the room in order to hear what the student council and administration had to say.

The dialogue started with the administration and officers entertaining questions asked by the students upfront and ended with answering the written questions sent to drop boxes.

Only one question per student is permitted, due to the limited time given for the event. This instruction made many of the students feel that they were restricted to express their sentiments.

The whole talk mostly tackled the current issue about the missing 50,000 pesos worth of funds. The administration stated that there is still an ongoing hearing regarding the matter and that the student leaders were willing to solve the problem.

It is said that the future hearings will be strictly private and that only members of the panel were allowed to take part in the investigation. Upon hearing the said update, a sophomore journalism student asked, “Wouldn't the privacy of the hearing lessen the objectivity of it?”

The assistant dean of the faculty, Asst. Prof. Narcisa N. Tabirara answered, “I think it’s quite unfair to look at it that way because the officers are independent individuals who are dully appointed by the dean. The investigations are supposed to follow certain processes which are expected to be objective.”
The officers assured that they would solve the problem and replace the amount of money lost before their term ends and that if it would be proven any of the officers violated provisions of the constitution, sanctions will be given to them.

The administration also stated that they will be fair and objective with their judgment for those involved.

Though the members of the community have different stands regarding the matters, they are all hoping that the problem would be solved immediately.