FORMER UST Rector Fr. Rolando de la Rosa, O.P. emphasized the relevance of campus journalism during the first Jose Villa Panganiban-Varsitarian Professorial Chair for Journalism Lecture last Nov. 21 at the Thomas Aquinas Research Center auditorium.
According to Fr. de la Rosa, critics perceive campus journalism today as obsolete, elitist, and irrelevant.
“Student publications seem to have been caught in a time warp, oblivious to the fast pace of innovation and obsolescence made possible by technology,” Fr. de la Rosa said.
He added that like other campus papers, the Varsitarian might be accused of publishing news that are no longer new, or for appearing like an elitist group of writers. However, he made a stark distinction.
“The Varsitarian is relevant not because it performs a function or role, but because it is fundamentally true to the mission-vision that defines its identity,” he said.
Fr. de la Rosa also stressed the difference between understanding and knowledge.
“The students may know the Varsitarian but they hardly understand what it stands for. Understanding has got to do with meaning. Knowledge becomes understanding when what you know becomes meaningful because it relates to your present concern, it is valuable, appropriable and helps us to be wise,” he said.
Fr. de la Rosa noted that the Varsitarian shares the mission of the University in its commitment to truth, making the paper continuously relevant.
“(Spread only the) truth that is related to our Catholic context, appropriated, valuable, and a guided to true wisdom,” he said.
Fr. De la Rosa, a former Varsitarian Witness editor, was chosen as lecturer because of his achievements as writer, educator, and clergy.
The lecture was named in honor of Dr. Jose Villa Panganiban, who is considered the founder of the Varsitarian.
The professorial chair, lodged at the Faculty of Arts and Letters, was established in 1999 under the term of then editor in chief Christian Esguerra.
