Written by: Gerald Araco
Art by: Shinkiro
Today, the UST Engineering Student Council faces a crisis of dissolution. In what can only be described as a department-wide debacle, the latest edition of the ESC election yielded a zero turnout of candidates for every position available. Historically, there have been instances of fewer than expected candidates and, at worst, the inconvenience of a few unfilled positions, but this new low of total passivity towards the proceedings of such an important establishment paints a bleak picture of the status quo.
Thomasians have long acknowledged their socio-political responsibilities and have done so by engaging in discourse in virtue of the upcoming national elections. Therefore, it comes as some surprise that politics in the university is a matter to which they have seemingly turned a blind eye. Of course, it is not a fair allegation to deem them culpable for the ESC’s situation, and granted, the affairs of the state naturally take greater precedence, but to trivialize the imminent fate that befalls the student council would be a gross misjudgment.
This adamance to fulfill the succession of council responsibilities can be ascribed to the toll of academic workloads. In a recent interview with the Thomasian Engineer, Kyla Sarcos, the ESC’s incumbent president, confirmed that the aggravations of the online setup have done little to prompt any interest among younger members to take on the responsibilities of the student council, much less concern themselves with matters outside academics. Difficult as it is for the rank-and-file to keep up with the demands of their professors, council members are burdened with maintaining a certain grade point across all subjects while cleaving to the duties of service to Thomasians; no easy feat, to say the least.
Yet, amid the challenges of the online setup, the student council has been able to deliver in every respect. It has succeeded in organizing events and webinars, delivering health and academic services, and so on. These have all been met by a fanfare of acclaim and an abundance of gratitude from the student body. This is why it has startled many to witness such a revered establishment face dire uncertainty over its future.
This crisis does not constitute the result of Thomasians’ own inaction, but the failures of oversight from the university itself.
With highly competent professors, UST has not neglected its oath to provide premier education, but, as many disillusioned students concur, it has whitewashed the truth of its excessiveness in academic expectations. It has undermined students’ capacity to cope daily with an elaborate mess of subject-related tasks. The imposition of complex projects, an exorbitant number of assignments, and draconian deadlines have levied hours of students’ personal time against their will. One semester after another, students have progressed fruitlessly from pillar to post, regressing into a disheveled heap of aggravation.
For the student council, this academic mayhem has eaten away at its ability to function, much less, stay afloat. As its president had also pointed out, grade-based disqualifications of some willing student leaders from election candidacy has been another cause for the zero candidate turnout in the election. These (disqualifications) have gravely impaired the resolve of ESC's remaining team heads and members to run for office. In effect, it is almost as though it has been left to fate to decide what shall become of the student council.
In the wake of the ESC’s sudden upheaval, one might question if it is even remotely possible to prevent the student council from becoming defunct. The simple answer is yes, absolutely.
Alarming as it seems, this issue can handily be put to rest by a single amendment. When the faculty acknowledges that the enterprise of student governance is a labor-intensive affair, they ought to do well to adjust the scholastic requirements expected of student leaders. It would constitute hypocrisy of the highest order not to implement such accommodations for them while many student-athletes continue to implement their infamous tactics of circumventing academic workloads on the pretext of busyness. For the faculty, it would truly be of no consequence to exercise a much-needed restraint of demands against those whose noble pursuits are directed to the collective well-being of fellow Thomasians.
Should that not make a sufficient argument in favor of the student council, then the very foundation upon which the student council was established ought to be committed to memory.
The Engineering Student Council is an inalienable part and parcel of the UST Engineering experience. For the better part of 50 years, it has torn down the apprehensions of unfamiliarity between students. Where there existed only the dissonance of hushed introversion, the ESC has nurtured a lasting esprit de corps. Moreover, by giving enterprising student leaders opportunities to helm momentous projects, the student council has endowed the engineering student body with countless opportunities not only to socialize but to pick up knowledge on new industry skills and innovations and kick one's feet up against the pressures of academics in gleeful and worthwhile recreation. Equally deserving of praise are its health services and surplus of academic reviewers have been of tremendous aid to students over the years.
The pandemic has demonstrated beyond doubt the importance of keeping the student council alive because its foremost efforts, now laid bare, have always been to sustain the well-being of students, no less. The student body has not yet been made certain of what is to follow but it need not reach that day to concede that every facet of the engineering student council is what makes one's stay in UST worthwhile.
The Thomasian Engineer’s simple entreaty to students is this: even if difficulties in school persist, there must be a magnanimous few among yourselves that should one day take on the reins of the student council and brave the consequences of public service. After all, the world could always use a few more righteous people. The only question is, who will stand up and lead?
