The Viscan Student Body has been criticized time and time again to be rather apathetic. It’s been characterized as, although vocal, but timid. Its qualms manifested as a rabid choir of disparate voices, numerous but unorganized, often only addressed when a higher university official deems it important enough to recognize. This certainly seems true especially now with the re-election for the USSC and CSSC, as its initial being declared as “null and void” as it failed to even reach quorum; and the worst part behind it— is that a quorum is defined by the Student Electoral Board (SEB) to simply be 50% of the student body plus one.
Perhaps it's the fact that there’s only one Partylist and a single independent candidate running for the elections, with the partylist largely made up of already incumbent officials. Not to mention that the same partylist is made up of people associated with the controversial former USSC President, Jhon Rey Gardon, crucified for an alleged theft of Student Council funds. Does this reflect the students lacking interest to serve its fellow Viscans or are the Supreme seats have lost its leg that no one would want to take it.
Or perhaps it’s the student body’s feeling of inadequacy with the running officials’ platforms, which focused more on revitalizing the USSC’s reputation from its alleged “corruption” controversy rather than on students’ interest, and if there is, it's basically recycled; chock full of promises, nothing new.
Visayas State University prides itself with being the premier State University in the Eastern Visayas Region. It often brags about its rankings, placing around 12 and even entering the annals of the top 10, placing 10th in Webometrics ranking of Universities for two years in a row. VSU boasts to be one of the best State Universities out there.
And yet, its Student Council is, if one thing, toothless. The lone partylist of this year’s USSC election held the Miting de Avance a mere 1 day before the election proper, with the event itself mostly being an afterthought attached right at the end of the GEP Month’s program, leading to it having an audience solely of Geodetic Engineering students, most of whom have stayed specifically for the free ice cream.
For any other prospective Supreme Student Council in any other State University, this would be a disaster. A Miting de Avance attended by a fraction of a fraction of its hopeful constituents means that its platforms and promises would’ve barely been heard by the people it hopes to be voted by, and furthermore support. The results were not surprising by the extremely poor turnout of voters during the initial voting that also resulted in a re-election.
And even then, that’s not to say their platforms are anything to write home about. Most, if not all of it, are promises. Now, there is nothing wrong with promises, these are expected to be brought by any prospective student leader as a show of what they wish to bring to their constituents. But promises are just that, promises, nothing more if without a plan of action: ones that seem predictable notions of words delectable to the ears of a few, but not to us.
Furthermore, while they have plenty of advocacies, such as promoting responsible waste management, expanding support services and counseling, Full Disclosure Policies, and even a plan to set up a so-called “Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines”, USSC, these are all simply what one could call sanitary or safe advocacies - ones where there would not be much to criticize, as if the main goal isn’t actually to push the boundaries and serve the Viscan population, but to simply get elected for the sake of getting elected.
Lastly, citing this year's iStoryahanay interviews with the candidate hopefuls, we see a rather worrying trend with our student leaders; the lack of knowledge of wider events. We see answers circling back and forth, ultimately saying close to nothing, and even full admission to lack of knowledge in what should be fairly commonplace for student leaders when it comes to even recent events, such as the United States’ involvement in the West Philippine Sea dispute, and even the Israeli invasion of Palestine.
What student leader would not be alarmed by the overwhelming presence of the military of not only a historically occupying Imperialist power, but one whose economic and political interests still dominate Philippine society today? What student leader would be unaware that the Philippines not only indirectly supports the Israeli atrocities happening in Gaza through its defense pacts with the United States, but that the state itself is directly culpable as the 3rd largest importer of Israeli-made arms, the same ones being pointed at indigenous tribes and farmers of our very own?
I say, if Visayas State University wishes to truly enter the annals of the top 10, or better yet, even challenge the prowess of the Big 4, all of which have a history of a very politically active Supreme Student Council that not only rallied its constituency together for a better University life, but even entered the halls of history as leaders who challenged the whims even of dictators who threaten them with tanks, guns, and bombs, then it is high time that we receive a Supreme Student Council that is not only enlightened to the current state of society in the world, but one that is willing to take drastic action into giving its constituents the very same rights our ancestors fought, bled, and died for.
It is time for VSU to receive a Student Council that is willing to entertain evolutionary, if not outright radical stances, for the University to move forward; because it is only through progress we can stand the test of time, lest in our efforts to cling to the long and narrow leave us into the dustbin of history.