The following is my term-end report as the CSSP Representative to the USC. I write this for the sake of transparency on the part of the College I represent, as well as enlightenment for those who are still confused as to what the responsibilities of the CSSP Representative are.
BEING THE BRIDGE
The bare minimum responsibility of the CSSP Representative to the University Student Council is to become the bridge between the CSSP students and the University Student Council, primarily doing so by relaying the concerns of either to the other. Given this, I’ve always made it a point to relay updates from the USC to the CSSP Student Council and the CSSP organization heads immediately after I’ve received word about it. In similar fashion, any and all concerns forwarded by the CSSP students and organizations to me were raised to attention of the USC.
Of course there’s always room for improvement. An ever-difficult sector to tap is the unaffiliated students sector; as such, I strongly suggest that the next CSSP Student Council and Representative to the USC find better means in engaging them for concerns and updates beyond the use of the CSSP-in-the-Know (CSSP InK) text brigades.
Personal Assessment: 8/10
WORKING UNDER TWO COUNCILS
Being the CSSP Rep to the USC also entails him/her to become an active member of both the CSSP Student Council and the University Student Council, as well as the committees of both councils. Let me tell you: working for one council is already a difficult balancing act of academics, work, and sanity – so you can only imagine the difficulties of working for two councils at the same time.
I became part of a total of 5 committees. Under the CSSP Student Council, I was part of the Education, Training, and Research Committee (headed by Councilor Pola Lamarca) and the Student Pavilions and Other Infrastructure Team (headed by Councilor Ayo Lapid). Under the University Student Council, I was part of the Gender Committee (headed by Councilor Dino), Basic Student Services Committee (headed by Councilor Ace Ligsay), and the Special Projects Committee (headed by Councilor Mara Recto).
A couple of projects that I’m proud to have been able to head are the following: the Senate Lobbying Efforts of the UP the Budget Campaign (wherein we were able to forward our position papers to several Senators, and talk to the offices of two: the Chief of Staff of Senate Pro-Tempore Jinggoy Estrada and the Senate Education, Arts, and Culture Committee Chairperson himself Edgardo Angara) and the televised Project Genderway Fashion Show (http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/video/90538/saksi-gender-equality-at-anti-discrimination-campaign-isinulong-sa-fashion-show).
Lobbying @ Sen. Jinggoy Estrada with then-Councilor Joeric Crescini
Project Genderway and the Anti-Discrimination Bill Signature Tarp
In addition to those above, I’m also proud to report that whenever there are discussions in the University Student Council regarding pertinent issues affecting the University or the Nation in general, I take active part by presenting perspectives based on either the concerns of the CSSP students or the disciplines of our College. In the CSSP Student Council, I made good use of my prior year of incumbency to guide and recommend courses of action for the Council when it came to similar projects or situations.
Personal Assessment: 8/10
*For a more objective assessment of my committee-level performance, I refer you to the respective heads of the committees I was under.
PERSONAL PROJECTS AS THE CSSP REPRESENTATIVE TO THE USC
Beyond the responsibilities mentioned, there exists massive space for the CSSP Representative to really make the position his/her own. This is so mainly because: unlike the department representatives (who forward specialized projects for their respective constituencies), most campaigns, services, and activities for the constituents of the college representative are already being forwarded or addressed by the college student council. This provides the college representative with the chance and creative room to forward his/her own projects and advocacies for the college.
My projects for the college were geared towards the following goals: (1) further integration of the college’s special sectors (like the CSSP Varsity, Graduate Students, and Alumni) and (2) the further promotion of the Social Sciences and Philosophy disciplines. These were inspired from my assessment of the context from my first year as an incumbent.
A. CSSP Varsity Coordination
This year, coordination between the CSSPSC and the Varsity was strengthened through the establishment of a centralized CSSP Varsity facebook group and an addition of a Varsity coordinator under the Core Alliance of Representatives. I also take pride in the amount of moral support that the Council was able to gather and provide the Varsity teams during the Diliman Games.
However, due to the prolonged “on-off-on” status of the Diliman Games, marketing for the Varsity Teams’ jerseys proved to be impossible. Financial constraints on the part of the CSSP Student Council’s funds also forced us to realign the subsidy that we could provide to more practical support applications, such as court reservation for practices and rehydration fluids during practices and the actual games.
Overall, I’m proud of the performance of the CSSP Varsity this year. Early on in the year, practices began for the Volleyball teams, eventually followed and strongly maintained by the Badminton Team; then later on in the year, the Basketball Teams caught up. In terms of the Diliman Games, CSSP was able to bag 1st place in the Bball Women’s division (in cooperation with AIT) and 3rd place in the Vball Women’s division. Though their victory and output are wholly and rightfully theirs to claim, I’m satisfied with the amount of support that the Council was able to provide them this year. But of course, this can be further improved by the next council and CSSP Representative.
Personal Assessment: 8/10
Proposed CSSP Varsity Emblem. Credits to Mary Martha Merilo
B. CSSP Graduate Students Coordination
This year, integration of the CSSP Graduate Students started with a Needs Assessment Survey in order for the Council to have a better grasp of the context they’re under. This was released during first semester registration, then eventually collated, analyzed, and submitted to all of the Departments, the Office for Graduate Programs, the Associate Deans, and the Dean.
Contact with them was then centralized through the establishment of the yahoo group: csspgradgroup. Included in this group are the incumbent Dean, Associate Deans, and Graduate Office Coordinator, so that the members may directly relay their concerns to them. Eventually, this group developed into more than a simple means of relaying information from the CSSPSC or USC to them. The graduate students themselves started to use this to invite each other to various conferences and opportunities relevant to their fields, and thus a healthy community began to grow.
Now that their major concerns have been identified, I leave it to the next Council to act upon these.
Personal Assessment: 9/10
C. CSSP Alumni Database
One of my goals during the start of the term was to get a hold of the CSSP Alumni, since it was a popular view that hardly any of CSSP’s alumni comes and gives back to the College. Usually, the College is treated as a mere stepping stone to Medicine or Law, and once they’ve graduated to productive members of society, they only give back to the institutions that gave them their Medicine of Law degrees. Bitter much. Hehehe.
Anyway, I figured that the first step to this was to acquire the database. Coordinating with UP Assistant Vice President for Public Affairs, I got a hold of a comprehensive database containing alumni from the CAS split up (1983) days to the previous years (2011). Unfortunately, the database was as difficult to scan through as it was comprehensive (10 pdf files with 90+ pages each of unsearchable names and incomplete contact information).
But despite this, we were still able to utilize it in looking for possible sponsors for the Benton Hall Student Center. This database was also forwarded to the College Administration for their use.
Personal Assessment: 6/10
D. Social Osmosis, SSP in Practice: An Immersion Opportunity with the Ata Matigsalug (formerly Angat KAPPwa)
In the spirit of promoting the Social Sciences and Philosophy disciplines, I wanted to further embed the love for SSP to the students through an opportunity wherein they could see the concepts discussed in the classroom at work in a community with a culture well-insulated from the influences of the outside world.
To be honest, this project shattered both stereotypes and expectations. Plus, it was awesome to have a diverse set of social scientists joining in on the trip, as we learned so much from the insights of the community as well as each other. My only wish for this project is that it touches the lives of every social scientist and philosopher as it did us.
The trip was exhausting yet rewarding, the people lived simply yet happily, and the wisdom was overwhelmingly life-changing. Of course, I can’t discuss all of these in this document, so for more information, head on to: http://cssprep1112.blogspot.com/2012/04/insights-from-ata-matigsalug-social.html
Personal Assessment: 10/10
E. SSPotlight: Social Sciences and Philosophy on the SSPotlight
This project had the main objective of promoting the Social Sciences and Philosophy disciplines to both students within UP Diliman as well as those outside of it (particularly high school students). The goal for the former was to be addressed by an exhibit within the campus, while the latter was to be achieved through a high school tour.
Unfortunately, it took an unexpectedly long time to finish the former (which was conceived to be used in the latter) due to the arduous and process of ensuring its academic integrity and quality. You see, the first step was that the Core Alliance of Representative Department Coordinators would draft an exhibit content proposal of their respective disciplines based on the guidelines I provided. Given that things would run smoothly (which it didn’t, at least not for all of the disciplines), these would then be forwarded to the respective departments for corrections and verifications. Then we would redraft it accordingly and forward it again until the ideal outcome is produced. Given that there were hiccups in production here and there, the exhibit had a delayed finish.
On the brighter side of things, we were able to finish it and (in cooperation with the College Administration) post it in the pillars of the AS Lobby – both a symbolic and eye-catching move. Further cementing its success is the fact that all of the brochures (50 copies per discipline) displayed were claimed. Plus, no factual qualms have been reported thus far. In conclusion: Yay!
Though there wasn’t enough time left for the coordination of a high school tour, I’m proud to say that we have made the jobs of the succeeding council (who I’m thankful for because they decided to carry over this vision) a lot easier because of the success of the exhibit. The exhibit and its pamphlets can easily stand on their own as introductory material for high school students; plus, you can simply leave them displayed in the high schools with a lot of brochures in stock, and then they would basically sell themselves.
For more information on this project: http://cssprep1112.blogspot.com/2012/02/sspotlight-social-sciences-and.html
Personal Assessment: 6/10
THANK YOU
On a final note, I would like to thank everyone who has been a part of this exhilarating roller coaster of an experience. Of course, the College has been an integral part in making me realize the importance and responsibility of Social Scientists and Philosophers.
Thank you to the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, its students, faculty, and administration for the awesome years of cooperative and progressive action. Thank you for the trust, cooperation, and challenges that you have given to me, the CSSP Student Council, and the USC. Thank you for teaching me to go beyond the boundaries of my own comfort zones and learn what it truly means to be a Social Scientist and Philosopher.
To the Core Alliance of Representatives, I never would have been able to pull off these projects without your help. Thank you very much! You’ve been awesome.
To my principled leadership and service formations, BUKLOD CSSP and UP ALYANSA, no amount of thanks can be given in return for the principles you’ve given me to stand firmly on and for shaping me into what I am today. Because of you, I have grown from a student who was only concerned for his own world to the proud Social Scientist and multi-issue advocate that I am today.
To the best institutions in UP (no bias. hehehe), the CSSP Student Council and University Student Council, thank you for the unforgettable experience of working under such principled institutions and with student leaders who have embodied what it means to be an Iskolar Para Sa Bayan. For all the sleepless nights, the never-ending debates, the humbling mistakes, and the rewarding successes that we’ve been through together, all I can say is that I regret nothing. =) I wish my colleagues all the best; may we all graduate into productive, sincere, and society-shaping citizen leaders of the Philippine society.
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Honor | Excellence | Leadership | Service
