AMID uncertainty regarding its continued existence, the student general committee, the body formed by the Central Student Council to further safeguard student rights, is gearing up for its last major case before the end of the school year.
CSC president John Voltaire Almeda said he is holding talks with five students allegedly harassed by a University professor last year.
“The students are very sensitive with the case,” Almeda said. “They haven’t decided yet whether they would pursue the case because of fear.”
Heralded by the council as the next step in student rights security, the current setup of the committee, however, is such that it is under the office of and thus co-terminus with, the CSC president. Almeda’s term ends in April.
“I will ask the Central Board to adopt a law creating a student general office, which will be under the CSC, in the next meeting” Almeda said. “I am also talking with other organizations like (the Faculty of Civil Law’s) Batas Tomasino to try and form a new organization patterned after the student general committee.”
The committee acts as a “lawyer” of students before administrative hearings. It represents students in cases, helping them file complaints before the proper bodies.
In an earlier interview with the Varsitarian, then committee chair Ma. Fatima de Chavez said the committee would not go beyond the functions of the local student councils’ grievance committee. Instead, the committee would only “provide another avenue for student grievance.”
Almeda explained that one of the problems that the committee faces is the continuous training of volunteers. He said a volunteer must not only have talent, but also the “guts to face people so long as they are on the side of the truth.” Miko L. Morelos
