Tag: Vol. LXXIV

I convey my congratulations to you, my dear graduating students. I am confident that you are all proud to belong to the roster of University of Santo Tomas graduates, Batch 2003!

Now that you have reached the end of your academic journey, it is easy to imagine a vast horizon spread in front of you, dotted with the colorful plans and dreams that you have carefully built over the past years. Your hearts must be bursting with pride as you recall the struggles and sacrifices you have made to arrive at this happy moment.

THE SACRED Congregation for Catholic Education of the Vatican has reappointed Fr. Tamerlane Lana, O.P. as Rector of the University for another term of four years.

Vice-Rector Fr. Juan Ponce, O.P. officially announced Fr. Lana’s reappointment during the Mass of the Holy Spirit that opened the new academic year at the UST Chapel last June 10.

LAST June 4 to 7, the Office for Academic Affairs held a seminar-workshop at the Thomas Aquinas Research Complex to renew the commitment of faculty members.

Dubbed “MTV (Mission-Teacher-Vision): Toward a Renewed Culture of Commitment”, the seminar-workshop aimed to make faculty members realize their value in the University, according to Crestita Tan, chair of the UST Task Force on Faculty Development.

Workshops and group dynamics, where faculty members gave ideas on how to make themselves more committed to the University, were the event’s highlights.

SA PAGLALAKBAY ng tao sa kanyang buhay, maraming bagay at pangyayari ang kanyang dadaanan—mga pangyayaring maaaring makapagpatibay o makapagpahina sa kanyang katauhan. Sa takbo ng buhay, pinakamahirap na daanan ang mga pagkakataong magkamali, madapa, at mabigo sa landas na tinatahak.

Paano ba magsimulang muli? Paano bumangon? Paano ba tumayo at harapin ang bagong bukas?

Maliban sa pagpapaalam, mahirap magsimula at muling bumangon upang pulutin ang mga pira-pirasong bakas ng nakaraan at habiin ito upang harapin ang panibagong araw na nakataas ang noo.

NAGULANTANG ang buong mundo sa kumakalat na kuwento ng mga pari na sumuway sa kanilang pangako noong sila’y ordenahan, na mamuhay nang malaya sa tawag ng laman. Sa ibang bansa, patok sa balita ang mga pari at obispo na nasasangkot sa kasong pedophilia. Katunayan, isang diyosesis ang muntik nang maubusan ng pera dahil sa laki ng ibinayad nila sa korte bilang damyos sa mga naging biktima ng kanilang mga pari.

“UST IS a smoke-free campus.”

Like many other Thomasian smokers, Accounting junior Ray Anthony Dela Cuesta was stunned upon entering the España gate and reading the sign bearing the above message. For one, he would have to restrain his seeming addiction to smoking. Worse he would have to keep off the habit while on campus, or perhaps quit in the long run.

Awful yet exciting

THE UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas as a haven for literature is good only in name but not in structure. Organizationally-speaking, literature is being given the short shrift.

With the Department of Languages supervising the University’s literature program and other disciplines-Filipino, English, Spanish and other foreign languages-Literature is being neglected and is not given the attention it needs. As a result, calls have arisen for Literature to have a separate department.

Lack of focus

THERE ARE a lot of reasons why Thomasians should read the Varsitarian.

“Thomasians must always read the paper because it is the only connection a student can have with the other colleges and sectors of the University,” Prof. Chrisma Caroline Bangaoil-Calumpang, Varsitarian associate editor from 1991 to 1992 and publications adviser from 1996 to 2002, said.

Unlike other student publications, the Varsitarian, the “V“ to its constituents, has a unique tradition and has its own culture.

BEGINNING his second term as the 93rd rector of UST last June 26 at the UST Chapel, Fr. Rector Tamerlane Lana, O.P. set his sights on Vision 2011 and urged all Thomasians, particularly faculty members, to help him realize it.

Vision 2011, an ambitious plan to upgrade the University in time for the quadricentennial of its founding in 2011, seeks to firm up UST’s position as a center of excellence in various programs of instruction, a leader in research in the pure and applied sciences, a leader in community development, and the center of contextual theology in Asia.

LAST June 27, officers of UST’s various student organizations and student councils officially assumed their positions after being inducted by Dr. Evelyn Songco, assistant to the Rector for Academic Affairs, at the UST Chapel.

UST Campus Ministry director Fr. Dennis de la Cruz, O. P. reminded the officers of UST’s various student organizations and student councils to be wise and virtuous as Thomasian leaders.