Dear Oscar,
Your piece does reflect many of the sentiments of the members of the last
of the LaSallites, the GS. and HS. Chapter of DLSAA. And perhaps, quite a few
others who have chosen to remain silent.
As one of my HS.'58 classmates had declared, La Salle Taft now is not the
same La Salle we so fondly remembered or went home to in numbers during special
occasions such as the homecoming.
You are polite. I am not when I choose to get things done.
It explains my request, to some a demand, prior to the HS. '58 golden
jubilee celebrations, that we be accorded an invitation and a welcome by the
Christian Brothers. And, that we would celebrate our reunion with them, ideally
with the Latin Mass of our youth.
I forced the issue and instituted the traveling Mass. To some, invited
myself and our class too. It was also meant as a discovery tour of the growth
and temperament of the new La Salle beyond the Taft confines.
In the process, I have met many outstanding administrators and discovered
many programs which were not widely known. We have also made headway together
while relishing the relationships as new friends. And yes, they are of service
to their respective communities under the leadership of the Christian Brother
tasked to head the District School.
There were some silly scoundrels along the way. They have been
obliterated. And yes, I am the supreme monster to silly bureaucrats wherever.
HS. '58 has also now established a menu of choices as to which La Salle
District School can use their help ...as well as help them with their extended
families.
What I now then propose is our setting ourselves on the path for serious
dialogues with the Christian Brothers prior to the 2011 Centennial.
It also explains why I have always insisted that homecomings should be
school-initiated and only assisted by the DLSAA and any other organizations.
It can be NO OTHER WAY to get the numbers to go back to our second home:
more often and without even really trying.
We all love the institution that is the Institute of the Christian
Brothers along with all the of the Christian Brothers. It is time for them to
TAKE OVER the task of inviting and welcoming the alumni: whenever, wherever,
for whatever.
It is always a meaningful experience when they do so as HS. '58 has
discovered in its golden jubilee activities with them. 2008 has been a
memorable year for the Brothers of HS. '58 with the Christian Brothers they had
met. We hope to meet more, inclusive of the novices.
It is time for the LaSallian Community to work as one.
Tony
PS. The Christmas Eve Mass last December 24 at DLSU-Manila was something
for me as it was for those who attended.
It is really a pity that a schedule of all the other Christmase Eve
Masses in the other La Salle campuses was not publicized.
And yes, I am still waiting for the FULL SCHEDULE of Masses in all
of the District Schools every month, particularly where any of the
Christian Brothers will be present.
--- On Thu, 12/25/08, oscar lagman <[email protected]> wrote:
> From: oscar lagman <[email protected]>
> Subject: Farewell To La Salle
> To: [email protected]
> Date: Thursday, December 25, 2008, 10:45 AM
> Tony,
>
>
> Merry Christmas!
> Here is what I sent you before but you say you did not
> receive.
>
>
> The Graduate School of Business of which I was a
> faculty member until December 13 has been integrated back
> into the University. It was autonomous for a while. The
> integration has caused turbulence among the GSB community
> because the Vice Chancellor of Academics, Controller, and
> Registrar of the
> University and the Dean of the College of Business and
> Economics,
> under whom the GSB is now, are seen as arrogant. They
> decide things on
> their own, without consulting the faculty and student body
> of the GSB.
> I was following up the payment of the honorarium for a
> project I had done last year. The new Dean sent me a
> castigating letter, which was totally uncalled for
> because she had her facts wrong and because we had not even
> met
> formally.
>
>
> I reacted very strongly, calling Br. Armin's
> attention to
> what I considered the imperiousness of the Dean. He sought
> me out and
> we had a dialogue. I took that opportunity to ventilate
> the complaints
> of faculty members and students. You see, as the professor
> of Services
> Marketing, I was approached by many students as if to tell
> me the
> school does not practice what I teach. Br. Armin asked to
> give him a
> list of the complaints. Here is that list:
>
>
>
> From the faculty:
>
> 1. Salaries are delayed. Paychecks for the first two
> weeks of the second term were given only in the 6th week.
> They came late for the succeeding weeks. Paychecks for the
> 9thth to the 11th week have not been given.
> 2. Honoraria for Oral Ccomprehensive Exams panel duties in
> the 1st term have not been given. One faculty member
> estimates that as much as P18,000 is due him.
> 3. Two faculty members who have received their honorarium
> got only half of what OCE panelists used to get. The
> explanation to them is that the rates are being aligned with
> the undergraduate rates. The faculty members counter that
> they should have been informed before they sat in the panel.
> Also, they say the GSB students pay double what
> undergraduate students pay for the OCE.
> 4. Those who have put in teaching hours at the Indonesian
> school in previous terms have not been paid, the explanation
> being that the Indonesian school has not paid DLSU or PSI.
> The professors involved say that their contract is with DLS
> (the U or PSI), not with the Indonesia school.
> 5. Accounting automatically deducts SSS, PhilHealth, and
> Pag-Ibig contributions from the salaries of professors who
> are full-time employees somewhere else where the same
> contributions are deducted from their salaries.
> 6. Professors in the Taft campus are sometimes required
> by the Main Library staff to borrow the audio-visual
> equipment themselves.
> 7. Meetings called by Administration are cancelled without
> due notice being given, wasting the time of professors who
> are senior executives somewhere.
>
> From the students:
>
> 1. Courses are dissolved after they have started. The
> consequence is that some students fail to transfer to other
> courses in time, delaying their progress in the program. One
> student had transferred to another course only to find out
> after the 7th week that her transfer had not been approved.
> .
> The
> explanation is that there are not enough students enrolled
> in the course. Students
> say the dissolution should be done before the start of the
> term as the Registrar should know beforehand that only a
> few had enrolled in the course.
> 1. Students wait for two weeks or so for confirmation of
> their enrollment in the course they had chosen.
> 2. Students are not duly informed of the option of taking
> validating exams for some courses.
> 3. The policy on taking pre-requisite courses before
> taking elective courses is not consistently enforced.
> 4. Enrollment Aassessment Forms and other documents can
> only be secured in the Taft campus. The Registrar’s
> office is open only on weekdays and during regular office
> hours. Working students have to take time off from work to
> get their EAF.
> 5. Students in the Greenhills campus have to go to Taft or
> RCBC to pay the tuition fee. (The GSB has extension campuses
> in Greenhills and RCBC Plaza.)
>
> 6. Course offerings are announced usually two days before
> actual enrollment date. This does not give students ample
> time to deliberate on what course to take and to ask around
> about the professor.
> 7. Because class schedules are posted late, working
> students are unable to plan ahead their work and class
> schedules.
> 8. Adjustments of course schedules can only be arranged
> with the Taft office. Working students have to take time
> off from their work to do that as the Taft office is open
> only on weekdays and during regular office hours.
> 9. Birth certificates and transcripts of record had to be
> re-submitted, causing students who graduated from provincial
> schools lots of inconvenience and expense.
> 10. Students in the Taft campus waste from 30 to 45
> minutes of class time to borrow audio-visual equipment from
> the main library as the queues are long. Sometimes, library
> assistants send the borrowing students back to the professor
> either to get his ID or to ask him to borrow the equipment
> himself.
> 11. Some books previously available in the RCBC campus
> have been turned over to the Main Library in the Taft
> campus, inconveniencing RCBC campus students.
> 12. Wi-fi service is often down.
> 13. The staff members of the Registrar are gruff. Their
> assistance cannot be obtained over the phone. They require
> inquirers to come personally. They are often sarcastic. A
> DLSU Applied Economics graduate was inquiring if the pre-MBA
> Economics course could be waived in her case. “Bakit,
> lawyer or accountant ka ba?” was the staff’s response.
> Another student was asking if her EAF could be faxed to
> Greenhills where she was enrolled. “Ang dami mong
> pinapagawa, hanapin ang EAF mo, ngayon i-faxfax pa,” was
> the reply she got.
>
>
> Last December 10, I got so exasperated with the
> Registrar's Office that I sent Br. Armin this letter
> that afternoon:
>
>
> Dear Brother Armin,
>
> I have resigned to the fact that De La
> Salle University is not the same De La Salle I went through
> from grade school
> to college. I guess the “University”
> appellation has cloaked the University’s staff with the
> mantle of authoritarianism
> that a staff member finds it below her dignity to call a
> faculty member like me
> to explain why I have to seek the clearance of the Vice
> Chancellor for
> Academics (VCA) before I could get my ID, a rigmarole I
> have never been asked
> to go through in all the years I have been teaching in the
> Graduate School of
> Business of the University, and a hassle that not even
> students are made to put
> up with.
>
> I teach in
> the RCBC Plaza campus. Because of the bureaucratic system
> installed
> after the integration, I now have to go to Taft to get my
> paycheck. As I am already in the area, I cash the
> checks at the bank across the street. I
> invariably run into problems cashing the checks because I
> do not have a current
> ID. I have been asking for mine since
> the RCBC staff started distributing the new IDs to faculty
> members and to
> students several months ago, but I have been repeatedly
> told over the past months
> that the Office of the University Registrar (OUR) had not
> sent mine yet.
>
> To avoid
> further hassle at the bank, I decided to go to OUR last
> Saturday to get my ID.
> I was directed to go to the VCA office. When I asked why I
> had to do that when in all the years I have been
> teaching my ID was simply handed to me by the GSB staff, I
> was told I have to
> fill up some forms, be “assessed”, and be cleared so I
> can get my ID. I have
> seen on many occasions both professors and students come to
> the Business Office
> at the RCBC campus to ask for their IDs. If the IDs are
> available, the staff just hands them to the appropriate
> persons without them being asked to fill out any form or to
> surrender their old
> IDs.
>
> I asked two
> staff members of OUR why I have to go through that
> rigmarole when it was never
> required before, even when the GSB was part of the
> University - before it was
> transferred to the Professional Schools, Inc. - and it is
> not required of other
> professors and of students now. They
> told me to call Edith of the VCA’s office. I asked them
> who Edith is as I
> wondered if she is in a position to explain the procedure.
>
>
> I got a
> call yesterday evening from the OUR staff to inform me that
> I really have to go
> to Edith of the VCA to get “cleared” before my ID can
> be released to me. I asked for her full name and her
> position. The girl I was talking to did
> not know but she said she would tell me this morning. When
> I had not gotten a call from OUR by
> about noon time, I called them. At first
> Grace would not even give Edith’s full name and position
> and insisted that I
> see her (Edith) personally. Ah, what
> culture have the academic mandarins cultivated at Taft! It
> runs counter to the helping, caring,
> compassionate ways St. La Salle and his followers showed
> their pupils. It goes against the spirit of La Sallian
> community you told me you are trying to pervade in the
> campus.
>
> Sociologists,
> psychologists, and anthropologists are one in saying that
> the Filipino, other
> than being personalistic, is also authoritarian. I have
> subscribed to that belief since I came
> to know about it when I was a student at the Ateneo
> Graduate School of
> Psychology in 1960-1961. That belief has been strengthened
> by the show of
> arrogance by those in authority, no matter how trivial the
> authority, like that
> of security guards in office buildings and subdivisions.
> And when intellectual superiors like academic
> chancellors and deans are given authority, the
> authoritarian trait of the
> Filipino is manifested so glaringly. My classmate Br.
> Andrew Gonzales told me
> when he was the Academic Vice President in the mid-1970s
> that lay academics
> tend to assert themselves as that is their only chance to
> gain recognition. That
> authoritarian attitude of the bureaucrats at Taft has
> infected their staffs. Edith
> Morales finds it below her to call me to explain why I have
> to go to the VCA
> office before I could get my ID. She
> never called.
>
> In all the
> years I was studying in La Salle , the American
> Brothers, who numbered 16 most of the time, ran the school.
> The deans, principals, even the one in charge
> of Admin , Br. Alfons, were Brothers. My
> Biology teacher, Br.
> Alfred, was also my baseball coach, the moderator of the
> school paper during my
> time was Br. Felix and of the yearbook Br. Frederick, known
> later as Br.
> Bronowitz. Some of them came from the
> Christian Brothers reformatory schools in the States, like
> Br. Bernardine, and
> they brought with them their martinet style. Br.
> Francis Cody broke a 3-meter ruler on the buttocks of
> naughty grade school boy
> and Br. Bernardine dislocated the jaws of two recalcitrant
> high school guys.
>
> But we all
> looked up to them as Big Brothers. We
> played basketball, softball, and football with them,
> including the president
> then, Br. Gabriel, who played good soccer like the Irish he
> was. We did not
> look at them as authority figures because they never
> presented themselves as
> such. Parents of one of the high school guys whose jaw Br.
> Bernardine
> dislocated, were going to file a suit. The boy, who became
> a big-time stockbroker later, talked his parents out
> of it, telling them he had it coming to him.
>
> That is how
> we loved the Brothers who ran the school. That sprit of
> true La Sallian community is gone, maybe because of the
> school’s lofty status as a university, maybe because the
> student population has
> grown so big, but most probably because those who now run
> the school were never
> oriented with the caring, helping, and compassionate ways
> of St. La Salle.
>
> In first
> year high school, we studied the life and philosophy of St.
> La Salle. We
> learned that St. La Salle chose the word “Brothers”
> instead of “Masters,” as
> teachers were called then, when he named his order
> Institute of the Brothers of
> the Christian Schools , precisely because they were
> supposed to act as big brothers.
>
> And as De La Salle University is not
> the same De La Salle College I fondly remember and love, I
> bid goodbye to the
> school.
>
>
> Oscar
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Center for Good Governance" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected]
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected]
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/center-for-good-governance?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
