Every year, the General Assembly of Student Councils (GASC), composed of our elected student council members from the constituent units of the University, convenes to ratify the Codified Rules for Student Regent Selection or the CRSRS, a document that serves as the "rule book" for the selection process of the Student Regent.
Being the only student member chosen among our ranks to represent us in the highest decision-making body on campus which is the Board of Regents (BOR), the Student Regent is undeniably, an important position as the office stands to represent our interests. As the policies of the Board of Regents directly affect our welfare as students, the necessity of student representation in this body must be placed in the highest premium.
Thus, recognizing the fundamental importance of the Office of the Student Regent as a force for forwarding what is right and just to further uphold student empowerment, the necessity of a democratic selection process to ensure the transparency and accountability of our highest representative should also be put into place.
It is with this premise that UP ALYANSA, guided by its pillars of academic excellence, student empowerment and progressive multiperspective activism, steadfastly forwards reforms in the selection of the Student Regent to ensure that participatory mechanisms and real democracy prevail.
UP ALYANSA is for the Minimum Academic Requirement as a criterion for all Student Regent nominees. A student leader is, first and foremost, a ‘student’ of the University, and fulfilling such a responsibility must also be aimed towards ensuring that the taxes paid by our people in investing with our education are not put to waste. The recent vacancies in the Office of the Student Regent due to academic delinquency show the necessity of such reform. It is a disservice to the students if we allow the loss of representation in the BOR to happen once again as it continuously makes decisions and policies that affect the entire student population of the UP System.
UP ALYANSA is for a ‘One College, One Vote’ Allocation Provision. The unequal and unjust voting allocation in the Student Regent selection (2 votes each for Diliman, Manila, Los Baños, Baguio, Visayas, and Mindanao; and 1 vote each for Pampanga, Cebu, Iloilo City, Tacloban, and Baler) has given rise to the disenfranchisement and disempowerment of a broad segment of UP students. For instance, the 5,000 students of the UPD College of Engineering have to scramble for an insignificant 0.1 vote with the 19 other colleges in Diliman (following the 2-vote allocation for UP Diliman), while the 2,400 students of UP Baguio receive the full two votes.
UP ALYANSA is for the deletion of Katipunan ng mga Sangguniang Mag-aaral sa UP (KASAMA sa UP) in the CRSRS. While we recognize the contribution of this alliance in the establishment of the Office of the Student Regent, such historical account has no place in a set of rules outlining the Student Regent selection process. In addition, KASAMA sa UP is not representative of the entire UP student population as many university and college student councils are not part of the alliance. To make the Student Regent selection process truly democratic, it must recognize the multiperspectivism in the student councils that choose the Student Regent.
As the GASC commences in UP Visayas, Iloilo, UP ALYANSA and its member-organizations throw its full support to the progressive university and college student councils that will carry our reforms during the deliberations. UP ALYANSA also urges our fellow Iskolars para sa Bayan to join us in securing representation through the Office of the Student Regent, which is supposed to be our highest bastion of democratic representation and participation. Make your voices heard through all channels possible in delivering our collective and resounding call for a progressive selection process for our Student Regent.
Iskolar para sa Bayan, kasama ka sa malinis at marangal na laban para sa pagpapatibay ng demokrasya sa Opisina ng Rehente ng mga Mag-aaral.
