IT IS very disappointing to see an empty locker, especially if you keep important and expensive things in it. Such was the case of two lockers at Laboratory Five of the Faculty of Pharmacy.
On the day of the returning, a sign of semester coming to an end, two groups of students where shocked to see their lockers open and empty—they had nothing to return.
Apparently, the lockers were opened by groups from other sections, maybe because they were left with less things to return than what they had borrowed. Avoiding the penalty of paying for the broken apparatuses, they resorted to stealing perhaps without thinking that the ones they were getting had been issued to fellow students who might be penalized for returning equipment issued to them.
Although, it is not impossible to know who were the culprits, it is more important to note that even in a small college, such students exist. They thrive at the cost of others. Whatever their reason may be, they cannot justify what they have done. And justice will be meted out to them sooner or later.
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It is easier to pay your fees during enrollment because there are many tellers. But when the exams are near, cashier’s office has only three tellers to accept payments. You cannot blame the students for paying at the last minute because many cannot afford to pay in full. You have to fall in line before the cashier’s office opens so that you don’t have to miss or be late in your classes just to get your test permit.
There are times that payments can be made to tellers in the dean’s offices, but rare are the times I have seen this. It is a great help because it decreases the hassle of paying your fees. Besides you are charge a hundred pesos for not paying in full. Isn’t it quite unfair that aside from this “penalty”, you also have to be penalized by the time you have to waste by the administration’s poor payment system?
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I have raised in my first column this year that the constructions in the main building might be weakening the structure. In the case of the Varsitarian, some of our old issues were destroyed of because of a leak passing through a crack on the wall in our archives that according to Buildings and Grounds personnel, came from a broken air-conditioner drainage.
The crack could have been caused by an earthquake, but considering that this building is earthquake-proof, there could be other sources of the crack. Recently, fire-hydrants were installed near the area where the leak was found. In spite of the attempt to cover the crack, the leak continued, indicating that the damage was worse than expected.
The constructions should have been consulted first with the experts to preserve the heritage and structural soundness of the building. There have been repairs that were not consulted with proper authorities. Disregarding some protocols in undertaking repairs or any construction, especially protocolas in heritage conservation, is like forgetting that the main building is a UST landmark next to the Arch of the Centuries. The Main Building, a building which history according to Fr. Fidel Villarroel O.P. also constitutes the history of the UST campus as well. Too bad some authorities have forgotten this in their over-eagerness to renovate the building.
