Friday, March 29, 2024

Tag: Special Reports

Preserving the ‘deed of gratitude’

DID UST violate the deed of donation that gave the University its 22-hectare España campus in the early 1920s when it decided to spin off the UST Hospital into a separate entity?

The simple answer is “No,” because the hospital remains a charitable institution attached to the Unviersity, although it is expected to generate profits for the first time in years.

UST Rector Fr. Ernesto Arceo, O.P., has dismissed the claims, while UST’s top historian is saying the claims made by newspaper columnists are historically doubtful, at best.

UST Hospital expects loan release soon

UNIVERSITY officials are optimistic a consortium of banks which had agreed to finance the P3-billion expansion of the UST Hospital will soon release funds for the ambitious project, a move expected to clear once and for all a controversy that has spilled over to the opinion pages of several newspapers.

UST Rector and hospital chairman Fr. Ernesto Arceo, O.P. is lashing out at critics of the hospital upgrade and expansion, pointing out that the University only wanted to put an end to years of financial losses.

Central Board to focus on student charter

THE CENTRAL Board of Students (CBS) said it expects the Magna Carta for Student Rights to be fully realized this year.

While the previous CBS had passed the proposed charter, the current CBS is reviewing it, said CBS vice-president Ron Robby Rosales.

“The Magna Carta is the great charter that would ensure the rights of every Thomasian student,” CBS president Jim Eduard Trinidad said. “The Magna Carta seeks to underscore the role of student as catalyst of academic excellence, moral integrity, spiritual growth and national development.”

UST Singers: 15 years of rave repertoire

FOR 15 years now, the UST singers continue to reach not only the highest notes but also the world’s grandest recognition despite the financial constraints usually experienced by most university-wide organizations.

Backed by supporters who actively sponsor their local and overseas endeavors, plus a convenient venue to practice everyday, the UST Singers continue to bring prestige to the University.

“Our skills have been developed and nurtured over time,” UST Singers conductor Fidel Gener Calalang, Jr. said.

Political parties

IT WAS during the thawing of Martial Law in 1981 when the University saw the revival of student political parties which were eager to test the democratic space and to introduce political change.

But nowadays, do student-politicians have what it takes to resist the paralyzing swear-and-tear culture of politics on and off campus?

Academic societies

AS THE school year begins, different academic societies start to map out their activities for students.

“On the first day of class, we conduct room-to-room orientations about the council’s programs and activities and how can these endeavors help the students understand the course better,” Architecture Student Council president Micaela Christina Uy told the Varsitarian.

Symposiums, assemblies, review sessions or tutorials and quiz bees are some of the activities that academic societies organize to help students cope with the demands of college life.

A real working council this year, CSC pledges

LESS concerts and more student-oriented projects--the Central Student Councils (CSC) has vowed for this school year.

“Concerts are just icing on the cake,” CSC president Reyner Villaseñor said. “We opt to give the students not what they want but really what they need.”

Dearth of funds hounds campus organizations

IF COLLEGE-BASED organizations have the Student Activity Fund to support them, then what do university-wide organizations have?

“None, most of our money come from sponsors and alumni donations,” Teatro Tomasino artistic director Niña Belle Gavan said.

The theater group celebrates its 30th year in September and it plans to produce plays that center on Filipino values and traditions, a departure from its usual social- and gender- themed productions.

El Niño at Santo Tomas

JUST A month before the first semester ended, the College of Fine Arts and Design experienced a drought, quite literally.

“We were not able to use the drinking fountains and had to avoid the disturbing smell in comfort rooms,” Advertising junior Clarisse Tanyo told the Varsitarian.

Unfortunately, the “water crisis” was no isolated case. But this semester, Buildings and Grounds (B&G) mechanical engineer Antonio Espejo said water supply should improve.

“The Beato Angelico Building is the farthest to the main water pipeline,” Espejo said. “But this year we have constructed a new water line adjacent to the mainline solely for Beato to provide sufficient water.”

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