IT strikes me as odd that the University of the Philippines, especially its “militant” community, is quick to point out excesses in government and in the private sector but is slow in taking action in cases of fraternity hazing.
To my mind, there is no clear justification for violence especially for those who only seek a semblance of affiliation and brotherhood in an academic community such as UP. Perhaps university officials should start to crack the whip on these fraternities, if only to show that it can serve justice to victims of hazing in the same way the university community calls for transparency and honest-to-goodness governance.
– Kjell Aboy, Bajada, Davao City, Philippines (via e-mail)
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November 2nd, 2007 at 12:45 am
What I knew even before was that the government has funded and erected the UP school for students that can’t afford to pay for the tuitions but who deserved and qualified for the school’s standard requirements. I just don’t understand the situation, even in the past years, that many students of this school right now are come from the very well known and wealthy families of our country, especially our very own rich politicians. Are these officials, who currently employed and holding top positions in the University, still enforcing their standard policies/requirements to screen students? If you try to think or figure it out how many of the students that come from poor families, compare it to the number of students that come from wealthy families…obviously, the answer for this query is just go to the UP parking lot and find it out for yourself. Parking lots in UP aren’t just enough for these richy-kid-students (who drive their own cars) of the well known families.
So don’t be surprised if this kind of simple problem lingering to their campus can’t be solved until now. If the school’s officials really are concern for the welfare of the students then they should make solutions immediately, impose the school policy for students who break the rules and they should act with bravery whether those students are the sons/daughters of rich or poor families and well known politicians.
I believe that this is the very big gap, created for years, that up to this day we haven’t seen any concrete actions from the officials to give justice with this kind of problem in the campus.
November 1st, 2007 at 9:15 pm
i feel sad whenever i read someone dying in frat hazing, esp. at up, my alma mater. i am diasappointed though at the adm. seeming lack of resolve and determination to crack down on hazing and other illegal practices of frats. just what is a frat for? brotherhood? someone to protect you when you do something bad in the future? is this the ‘padrino’ and ‘bata-bata’ system at work?
guys, wake up, hazing promotes vindictiveness and other negative values.
the next victim will be you!
November 1st, 2007 at 1:49 pm
[...] Kjell Aboy of Davao City talks about UP and fraternity hazing in Vox [...]