One skewed rule

By Paul Anthony M. Eso

(Vol. XXVIII No. 5, Editorial Cartoon)

One Skewed rule

It seems that University President Henry A. Sojor felt like the students of Negros Oriental State University are not only hardheaded but also beyond help. Perhaps, because of this belief he has cooked up a policy that is not only absurd but also ridiculous if not demeaning for an administrator of his stature.

Who wouldn’t want a clean university?

If Sojor will be asked, he would most likely point his fingers to the students. That is why in one of those boring days, he had a talk with Chief Security Officer Nilo Lauron. No one really knew what they talked about, only that days after that, Lauron has mobilized his minions and asked them that foods taken inside the campus by the students should be confiscated.

By the way, Lauron said that it was not their job to inform the students of the orders given by the university president. He said that it is the Student Government’s job. So, even without properly informing the students, they continued with their stunts. As usual, they hid again behind “we are just following orders.”

So imagine the surprise of the students when the baon they brought from home [took time to prepare and pack it] were taken away like it was a piece of bomb ready to explode. Imagine the faces of the students who, because they have no extra money at hand, have to buy biscuits in advance just to save some extra pesos, but only to end up with nothing to eat at all.
Sojor said that the main purpose of this is to maintain cleanliness, sanitation and hygiene inside the campus.

Could this mean that the university president is finally reaching that point wherein he can’t come up with better means to discipline the students, so he would stoop as low as confiscating baons and hide behind saying that it is to maintain cleanliness, sanitation and hygiene?

It is true that drastic times call for drastic measures. There is no problem about wanting to maintain cleanliness but to go as far as confiscating baons is stooping down way too many levels.
It was Sojor who keeps on admonishing that NORSU is a school for the poor but deserving students. It was also Sojor who said that students go to school in order to learn.

But with this new policy, is it even fitting for the poor but deserving students? A lot of students cannot afford the food served at the canteen. Guess they have no choice now but to really buy, wouldn’t they?

And what kind of lesson does he want the students to learn this time? Obviously, he wanted the students to learn cleanliness at the expense of the students getting hungry because the baon they can afford is taken away.

If Sojor thinks that the students are beyond help, that they cannot be disciplined anymore by plainly showing them how to do it, then what difference is NORSU to a prison or an asylum?
Only the university president can answer that.

More improvements

By Cheeno M. Luang

(Vol. XXVIII No. 4, Editorial Cartoon)

More improvements

There were significant developments in Negros Oriental State University (NORSU) that made the NORSU community commend the progress, while there were some others who did not even care to give a single note.

There is the ongoing construction of the College of Nursing, Dentistry, Pharmacy, and Allied Health Sciences building. Also, the offering of two new courses last school year: Doctor in Dental Medicine and Bachelor of Science in Mining Engineering. However, the latter was temporarily closed since it attracted only a few enrollees. An addition is the beautification of the NORSU grounds with the repainting of the buildings.

It may either be big or small improvements, but the institution has made its part to create a new environment for the NORSU community. As most of the said ventures were successful, there are another new set of progress that NORSU community will start embracing for the next few days.

The university administration’s line-up of projects this school year are the renovation and construction of a three-storey College of Business and Accountancy (CBA) building, an Amphitheater, a religious activity center or a Chapel, a two-storey food building, and the roofing of the open courts. The Amphitheater and the Chapel will be situated in front of CBA, west side of the NORSU Cultural Complex and at the back of the College of Tourism and Hospitality Management building. University President Henry A. Sojor, in an interview, shared that any religious activity can be done in the Chapel.

The two-storey food building will include the seven-unit food stalls located at the ground floor and the Engineer’s, Supply’s, Bids and Awards Committee’s/Technical Working Group’s, and Evening Vocational Courses’ offices that will be positioned in the second floor of the said building. Sojor also related that with the said project, the neatness of the university will be improved since everything will be in place this time.

From all of the projects of the institution for this school year, it only provides that NORSU has been stepping on from one ladder to another – higher and higher. Subsequently, these plans will add dominance and prestige of the school since it builds up growth of the institution and at the end, the stakeholders will benefit from the said development. It’s quite a big challenge at first to provide some of the many needs of the NORSU community especially for the students. But despite all the odds, the institution remained firm and established to provide not just quality education but also a one-of-a-kind security and tenure.

But since NORSU has been improving a time now, most Norsunians and the watchful NORSU community were already hoping that the needs in facilities and equipment will be catered as well in the near future – as soon as today. Students were even claiming that if not with hard work and dedication to pursue their goals in life, things would have not fall into place – relating to Norsunians who top exams. Consequently, since it is a known fact that NORSU has delinquency in facilities and equipment, it should also have been addressed.

If then the administration has appropriated a big amount for building new structures for the university, it might as well be better if they could also supplement the requests of the students with their demand on facilities and equipment, and allocate some for the said appeal.

It is assumed that there are still some other set of projects that will be implemented in the next few years for the improvement of the institution and the betterment of the NORSU community as a whole. But still, there are other important needs that supposedly been addressed by the administration by now. The projects are a commendable one though. Kudos to more improvements!