STUDENTS from the Faculty of Arts and Letters revisited the splendor of world literary classics in a conference attended by foreign embassy officials last month.
Junior students of Communication Arts, Journalism, Legal Management, and Sociology programs, who are taking the Survey of World Literature course, presented their research papers and short film adaptations of Roman, Greek, Indian, Chinese, and Japanese classical literatures in the event titled "Modernizing Antiquities: Updating the Classics" at the Beato Angelico building auditorium last Sept. 24.
Honorary guests were Greek Ambassador to the Philippines Polyxeni Stefanidou, Greek Consular Office head Nikolaos Verghis, Japanese Embassy First Secretary Maki Mizusawa, and Gyan Singh, first secretary of the Indian Chancery.
In her keynote speech, Stefanidou noted the important role of a university as an institution in learning cultural diversities, as it is "the great place of knowledge, education, and promotion of culture of any country."
Timothy Sanchez, classical literature professor and organizer of the conference, said the activity aimed not only to promote the study of classical literatures, but also to provide a place for students taking the subject to meet and exchange ideas with the foreign guests.
Cultural items from the Greek, Chinese, Japanese, and Indian embassies were also displayed in the exhibit room of the building, together with the event’s advocacy “May Facebook sa USTe!,” which called for the unblocking of Facebook and other social networking sites in the University.
“It’s more important to help one another learn the use [of] social media safely and productively for both personal and academic use rather than merely blocking social media in school,” Sanchez said.
"The University is strong when it comes to classical education. We are called the Classical University because of our European heritage and we have always taught the classics," she said. RAFAEL L. ANTONIO
