The Varsitarian

By MARIA ELOISA PARCO-DE CASTRO* 

A HUNDRED and fifty years after Dr. Jose Rizal’s birth, the nation celebrates the occasion with conferences, lectures, art exhibits, a heritage trail, book launches, documentaries, short TV features and myriad other ways. This birthday wish list is a simple contribution to celebrate the same occasion, but with the added hope that any of these wishes would bring us closer to the nation that the First Filipino had imagined and helped to forge with his martyrdom.

1. That Filipinos, particularly students, would read Rizal’s novels ( the Noli and the Fili) in justifiably beautiful translations that would enable them to laugh, rant and rave exactly at the parts that he intended them to, thus being able to relish every bit of both novels. read more »

WHEN calamity strikes, text messaging may not be a reliable tool after all.

Many students were unable to receive text messages announcing the suspension of classes last July 14 at the height of typhoon “Basyang” from the Central Student Council’s (CSC) “Infoblast” project.

“There was neither electricity nor signal,” said ;Ryan Sze, public relations officer (PRO) of the CSC and project head of Infoblast.

“Basyang” tripped the north-to-south transmission backbone of National Grid Corp. of the Philippines, cutting off power supply and knocking out signals of mobile networks.

Public Affairs Director Giovanna Fontanilla was, however, able to announce the suspension of classes over radio station DZMM at 4.a.m. read more »

STUDENTS at the Faculty of Arts and Letters are now required to speak in English during class discussions, serving as “guinea pigs” before the launch of a University-wide English proficiency campaign.

“[Competence in English] is one of the main complaints of many of the employers [of our] University graduates. There is a survey [among employers] in the country and abroad, and one of the setbacks of our graduates is [that] they are very competent in their profession, but they are not very articulate, especially in the English language,” Rector Fr. Rolando De la Rosa, O.P., said.

The “experiment” was started in Artlets because many of its courses require communication in English, he said. read more »

JUST in keeping with the times.

The AMV-College of Accountancy will adopt next school year an automated way of computing grades after a successful trial during the final examinations for summer classes.

College Secretary Josephine Relis said Opscan Insight 4 OMR 202, the counting machine purchased from supplier Syrex Corp. can evaluate 2,000 test papers in an hour.

“We’ve wanted to acquire this machine for a long time. Now the students will know their test results within minutes after the exam,” Relis said.

The same machine is also being used by the colleges of Rehabilitation Sciences, Medicine and Surgery, Nursing and the Admissions Office. read more »

LET THE year of the Tiger be for the Tigers.

A UST alumnus is pushing for the official declaration of 2010 as “Year of the Thomasians” by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo herself, saying it would be a perfect gift to UST on the eve of its Quadricentennial.

College of Architecture and Fine Arts alumnus Rhoel Mendoza, through a letter to the President last July, cited the University’s rich history and illustrious alumni as reasons why 2010 should “belong” to Thomasians.

“I believe this would be a very good way of beginning the second decade of the 21st century and the perfect prelude to the global celebration of UST’s Quadricentennial in 2011,” Mendoza said in his July 2009 letter published on the Philippine Daily Inquirer last February 16. read more »

UNIVERSITY-WIDE surveys conducted separately by the Research Cluster for Culture, Education and Social Issues and the Varsitarian showed nearly identical results, with Liberal Party standard bearer Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and Manuel “Mar” Roxas II emerging as Thomasians’ top choices for president and vice president, respectively.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, meanwhile, was the top choice for senator.

Aquino got 34.7 percent in the second Political Opinion of the Youth Survey by the research cluster and 36.4 percent in the Varsitarian survey. Administration bet Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro placed second in both surveys with 33.5 percent and 31.4 percent, respectively.  read more »

ONE IN three Thomasian grade-schoolers is obese or overweight, the latest findings of the UST lifestyle development program “Hit Obesity through Preventive Education” (HOPE) showed.

The program found that 33.7 percent of elementary pupils were obese for their age, while 66.3 percent had normal weight.

HOPE recorded 39.1 percent of the participants as obese in 2008. read more »

NEXT TIME there’s a storm, suspending classes in flood-prone UST is just one text away.

UST has tied up with Globe Telecom to provide exclusive subscriber identity module (SIM) cards to students and employees, allowing them to get up-to-date University announcements.

Office of Planning and Quality Management head Fr. Arthur Dingel, O.P. said 50,000 Globe SIM cards would be distributed to the Thomasian community. read more »

FACEBOOK can be a useful tool after all, instead of being just a social networking site.

The site was used to raise funds and help victims of recent natural calamities. For Thomasians, it became a venue for complaints against the UST carpark management which got flak for charging overnight fees for vehicles stranded by flooding last September 26.

In a letter sent to the Varsitarian last October 5, JP Cabrera, general manager of the carpark, said operator Selegna Holdings Corp. would refund parking fees paid last September 27, a day after tropical storm “Ondoy” flooded UST and trapped 3,000 people. read more »

THOMASIANS are still hopeful despite the “corrupt political culture” in the country, believing that electing a “business-minded college graduate” to the presidency could end the “dirty custom,” a University-wide survey has showed.

The “Political Opinions of the Youth Survey,” conducted last August 3 to 7 by the Research Cluster for Culture, Education and Social Issues, showed that Thomasian students see the upcoming elections as a “source of change.” read more »