Tag: March 15, 2011

THE ORDER of Preachers has set a 2013 deadline for the complete turnover of UST to the Filipino Dominicans from the Master of the Order in Rome, to resolve “difficulties and misunderstandings” in the way the University is administered.

According to the Acts of the Elective General Chapter of the Order of Preachers, a documentation of the decisions and deliberations during the 2010 General Chapter in Rome, Fr. Bruno Cadore, O.P., Master of the Dominican Order, was tasked to appoint a commission for the transfer of UST to the jurisdiction of the Dominican Province of the Philippines. Cadore is chancellor of UST.

THE THOMASIAN community formed the “largest human cross” on Ash Wednesday last March 9, in its second attempt to enter the Guinness Book of Records.

An estimated 24,000 Thomasians gathered at the UST field to form the black-and-white Dominican Cross, symbolizing the Catholic and Dominican identity of the University.

Campus Ministry head Fr. Winston Cabading, O.P. said the idea of forming a cross came from the students, after the formation of the “largest human rosary” in December was not accepted by Guinness as a world record.

“We wanted the event to be spiritual in nature. We are not only celebrating Ash Wednesday, but also the 400 years of the University,” Cabading said.

FORMER UST rector Fr. Ernesto Arceo, O.P. has returned to the Dominican Order after taking a two-year canonical leave of absence in 2007 following a dispute over the redevelopment of UST Hospital.

In an e-mail to the Varsitarian, Arceo said he was happy to be back in the University in time for the Quadricentennial celebrations.

“I was there during the Quadricentennial celebration and I was glad to be around. It was really an amazing and inspiring celebration, which I think the whole Thomasian community found so meaningful,” Arceo said.

Arceo did pastoral ministry in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, California. He came back to the country after his leave of absence expired in June last year.

A HIGH-RANKING University official found nothing wrong with a professor’s decision to give “incentives” to students who would go public with their position against the controversial Reproductive Health bill.

Theology professor Aguedo Florence Jalin drew the ire of the left-leaning Akbayan Youth Group when he encouraged his students to post their opinion on the bill at the group’s Facebook fan page last month.

Sought for comment, Secretary General Fr. Florentino Bolo, O.P. said Jalin and other UST professors enjoyed “academic freedom” so long as they would not violate student rights and University policies.

THE SYMBOLIC wreath-laying rite at the University’s original campus in Intramuros has been moved to next year, with UST officials taking steps to rehabilitate the old Plaza Santo Tomas in Intamuros.

The ceremony at Plaza Santo Tomas—which hosts a replica of the statue of the founder, Msgr. Miguel de Benavides, O.P.—was earlier scheduled last February. But because of the flurry of events last January for the Quadricentennial Week, UST officials have decided to reschedule it to January 12 next year for a “more meaningful celebration.”

IN A REPEAT of last year’s Central Student Council (CSC) elections, independent candidates once again ruled the polls and grabbed five of six council positions for the academic year 2011-2012.

The highest seat in the council, however, was won by Lakas ng Diwang Tomasino (Lakasdiwa) party bet Lorraine Taguiam of the Faculty of Civil Law, who got a total of 13,661 votes against independent candidate Justin Tan of the College of Architecture who acquired 10,993 votes.

Taguiam, the lone Lakasdiwa winner, said the failure of her partymates to get elected won’t hinder her projects.

“At the end of the day, we will serve the students and not our parties,” she said.

THE FACULTY of Arts and Letters (Artlets) will trim its subjects by 12 units starting next academic year in a bid to streamline an “over-crowded” curriculum, Artlets Dean Michael Anthony Vasco said.

Vasco said the faculty’s 195-unit curriculum was way above the requirement set by the Commission on Higher Education (Ched), which mandates only 152 units for a Bachelor of Arts degree.

“In this way, the curriculum becomes more flexible,” he said. “The students will have more time to concentrate on their area rather than taking many subjects [that are] sporadic.”

ARE SECURITY guards and closed-circuit television cameras (CCTV) not enough, or is it because Thomasians have become too liberated these days?

Two years ago, while I was with a friend walking through the corridor looking for a certain office, we happened to pass by a dark room and accidentally saw a girl and a boy in their uniform, kissing each other.

From bits of stories by folks a year ago, another couple, also in their uniforms, was caught having sex in a comfort room in the campus. Too bad another student saw them and immediately reported them to college administrators. Everyone waited for the couple to finish their business, and later got reprimanded by the officials.

MEMBERS of the last graduating batch of the UST Grade School pooled their savings of P25, 000 and donated them for the grand Quadricentennial celebrations of UST.

But unlike others who simply handed over their donations, posed for the cameras, then left, the group—accompanied by the principal, the regent, and the student council adviser—also entertained Fr. Rolando de la Rosa, O.P. with a unique turnover presentation of poetry and a song-and-dance number at the Rector’s office on the morning of January 21.

They say it’s the start of the apocalypse.

For the past few months, nature wrought its ire on unfortunate countries, leaving a path of destruction at its wake. Just recently, Japan experienced their strongest earthquake to date, registering 8.9 in the scale as coastal villages were also swept away by a 23-foot high tsunami. The great flood “Ondoy” became a thing of 2009. Apparently, Australia and Brazil have been getting their fair share of floodwaters touching roofs and overturning massive vehicles. Likewise, Mother Earth’s rage was as potent as those of her inhabitants. Some of them were, after all, busy staging a revolution.