As time passes

By Christian Edu Villegas
(Vol. XXVII No. 5, Editorial Cartoon)

As time passes

Time, indeed flies fast and we almost did not notice that even the midterm examination is already fast approaching. Classes have now become intense, except for those that are handled by irresponsible instructors. Projects, paper works, presentations, reports, examinations, etcetera, are now loaded to most students’ shoulders. Indeed, we can already feel that from the exhausting enrollment we had, we already have gone a little farther.

Along with the fast-paced days is the revival of the urgent cries of students about the perennial problems that this university has – perennial problems which, unfortunately, remain unattended up to this very day. These problems burden the students since they have to deal with them everyday.

One of the perennial problems is the unroofed pathways. With the onset of the rainy season, treading the pathways under the pouring rain is absolutely a burden. If we will recall, among the recommendations of the accreditors in the past accreditations was for the administration to provide covered pathways for the students. These days, with the unpredictable weather, the need for action on this recommendation has become more imperative. More rain means more burden for the students, and of course, more victims of flu.

Another problem is the lack of comfort rooms (CRs) that really mean ‘rooms for comfort’. This has been a problem of the university since time immemorial. Concerted efforts from the past Student Government (SG) administrations up to the present have been poured, yet, it is only alleviated for a short time, and then later on, it still remains a problem. This time, hiring personnel to maintain the cleanliness of the CRs is not good enough since no matter how hard they try to clean it, the CRs remain disgustingly stinking and are obviously, not rooms for comfort. True, we put the blame on students for not doing their part in the proper use of CRs, but perhaps it is time to consider that students do not care about the CRs because after all, it is not worth caring for. If we are going to look closer on the CRs that this university has, the problem is not with the maintenance as well as with the users – the problem is with the type and kind of CRs that we have.

The lack of a roofed place for Physical Education (PE) classes is also another problem. With the unpredictable weather these days, this is another burden. In the past years, it has been a long promise of most SG candidates who seek for top position in the SG – to find means to provide roofed class areas for the PE students but, unfortunately, no one made it to fruition. PE students remain almost toasted under the scorching heat of the sun and their classes are cancelled when the rain pours. Or if not, after a heavy rain, they would often settle on the slippery wet floor of the open courts which is prone to accidents.

These are only some of the perennial burdens that the Norsunians have. There are still a lot of problems out there and a lot more will come this school year. How to solve even the three mentioned burdens is next to impossible. We were taught in the past years to do more with less since NORSU, as a state university, gets very limited budget from the national government, thus, it is too ambitious for us to say that these can be solved right away.

On the other hand, we should not think that being in a state university, this problem will remain a burden to the students. Now is the time to slowly but surely address these problems, or put them among the priorities of the administration since these concern the students. This way, the students’ burden will be lessened. Someone in power should take the cudgels for these!
Could the Federation of University Parents and Teachers Association come to the rescue? Or the SG? Maybe it is now time to prove to everyone that SG’s remarkable project is not only about beauty pageants. Now is the time to focus on something that really answers the concerns of the majority of the students.

May this urgent call not fall on deaf ears.

On thievery

By Ren Angelo Elevera

(Vol. XXVII No. 4, Editorial Cartoon)

On thievery

This is not the first time that cases of thievery take place inside the very parameters of the university. In fact, issues of thievery inside the campus had already appeared to be more of an ordinary issue to us that every time we hear of one, it does not alarm us anymore. Just recently, an array of reported cases of thievery and lost items once again surfaced – and most of it happened at the university library.

This time, it is lame to place the blame on the security officers who are in-charge of everyone’s safety inside the campus. As we observed, since blue guards came into this campus and since the Office of the Security Matters was finally defined, there has been very tight security that sometimes, we even thought that the implementations of security rules are too much and exaggerated. As we have all experienced, bags are checked, IDs are checked, and visitors are checked – meaning, we are safe from malicious intruders from the outside because no one can easily get in.

Sadly, thievery cases are repeatedly happening despite the efforts of the security department in implementing tighter security. Why? The very reason is because we allow it to happen again and again. Thievery happens because of recklessness and less cautiousness from most of us.

In the library for example, where most of the recent thievery happened, despite the sign in the baggage shelf that says “Please leave your backpacks, bags, attache case, and big envelopes but DO NOT LEAVE your wallets, cellphones, calculators and other valuables”, a lot of students still carelessly leave valuables in their bags, thus, become easy prey for thieves. Also, the fact that nobody is attending to the baggage shelf, prudence dictates that everyone should not leave any important belonging because obviously, it is not safe.

Many are duped, because many are careless. Because a lot of students remain not cautious, thievery continues.

Let everyone be reminded that being extra careful and being cautious are the best weapons against thievery especially that the culprits were, apparently, students of NORSU too - since outsiders cannot easily get inside the campus because of tight security. Past experiences teach us the painful lesson that the culprit could be that person sitting next to us.

On the other hand, it is high time now for authorities to do something beyond the mere “do not leave your important belongings here” warning. Someone should be assigned to man the baggages of the students for obvious reasons.

Organizing the system of the baggage counter and extra diligence are surefire formula for winning the fight against burglary in the library, in particular, and in the campus, in general.

Of plans and promises

By Christian Edu Villegas
(Vol. XXVII No. 3, Editorial Cartoon)

Of plans and promises
It has often been said that promises are easier said than done.

This is especially true in politics where we often experience being showered with promises by our political leaders. Unfortunately for us, broken promises are not only limited to the national political circles.

Overflowing plans and broken promises had become a part of our political culture, that even when we are unsatisfied with our leaders we keep quiet and pretend that everything is all right. But is it right?

As the new school year starts, new student leaders will also take the helm of the student government. New leaders mean a whole new year of prospective developments for the student body and the university, a whole new set of leaders laying out their plans for the students—or at least, that is what they say.

While a lot of the promises made by the past SG officers remain unfulfilled, the student body is looking forward to see what the present set of officers have to offer. After all, they did promise a lot when they ran for office.

Aside from fulfilling the many promises that they have made during their campaigns, it is also important to remind the present set of SG officers of the many issues that they need to address now that they are finally in office. It is high time that the student government realize that leadership is not only about providing enjoyable programs and putting up lounges and other projects.

The Student Government is a representative of the student body. The SG officers should serve as the liaison between the students and the administration. The SG should, therefore, fight for the students and not act as puppets of the administration.

For one, the SG should at least come up with a clear and final dress code policy to avoid the continuing confusion in the proper dress code of the university. It is somehow commendable how the past officers tried to come up with a clear dress code but as its present implementation is again being questioned, then the SG should do something about it.

Also, the SG should learn to start fighting for students’ rights as a lot of it are already being violated. Programs that could help the students in matters such as sexual harassments and abuses should be given attention also.

Though it is still too early to judge the kind of leaders that we have, still we are hoping that they will be a lot better than the past student leaders that the university had.

Our present student leaders have countless plans, many of which focus only on beautification and cleanliness, and like our national political leaders; they too showered us with promises during their campaigns. It is still too early to know which among the many promises will be fulfilled but it wouldn’t be too much to expect that the present SG would finally make a difference. Will they? That remains to be seen.