stories from the middle earth press room

I gave this letter to each of the above addressees last Wednesday, March 5, 2008 (some notes in parenthesis were not included in the original). It's about time I defend myself to the greater UP Community as well. Sobra na toh. What were mere malicious rumors before have now blown up to threaten ruining our lives.

THOSE OF YOU WHO DO NOT KNOW ME AND WHO DO NOT KNOW WHAT REALLY HAPPENED, STOP JUDGING. THIS HAS GONE TOO FAR. STOP SPECULATING. THIS IS THE TRUTH.

THOSE OF YOU WHO KEEP ON SAYING FALSE THINGS TO DESTROY US. THERE IS NOT ONLY SPIRITUAL KARMA, BUT LEGAL KARMA AS WELL.

***

AN OPEN LETTER TO PRES. ROMAN, CHANCELLOR CAO, DEAN DE DIOS (& THE UP DILIMAN COMMUNITY)

March 4, 2008

Merit and excellence have always been the battle cry of this prestigious University, as articulated by President Emerlinda Roman. The theme of the UP Centennial celebration is aptly “UP: Excellence, Leadership, and Service.” Merit and excellence have always been my battle cry as well.

I have devoted my life to the pursuit of academic excellence and purposeful leadership. I compete with no one but myself. I have thus achieved to be a Summa Cum Laude candidate, a Features Editor of our college organ, a Vice-President of the UP Junior Marketing Association, and winner in various national competitions.

This commitment to merit and excellence was recognized by the Office of the Vice-Chancellor for Student Affairs (OVSCA) as they selected me to be one of the three recipients of the 2008 Gawad Chanselor sa Natatanging Mag-aaral, the most prestigious award that the University bestows to students each year. (They gave me a call to notify me of the official results last February 22, 2008, Friday.)

But this commitment to merit and excellence was also desecrated. Two days before the Gawad Chanselor awarding ceremony (February 26, 2008), I received a call that my award had been suspended due to the malicious allegations that my friends and I have committed academic dishonesty. This was done based on a mere phone call of a college professor warning that the University would be put in an embarrassing position were they to give an award and recall it afterward. On the contrary, in my view, the University would be put in a more embarrassing position if it failed to recognize merit and excellence based on mere rumors and suspicion, without specific charges, evidence, investigative data, or due process. It would be more embarrassing if the University failed to uphold the rights to recognition. These rumors have been the basis for the suspension of a highly-scrutinized and intensely-screened award.

Days were spent collating my resume, a nomination letter, and evidence and documentation of my achievements since my first day in the University. Along with those requirements, I obtained and submitted an SDT (Student Disciplinary Tribunal) clearance and a college clearance signed by the College Secretary himself—evidence that I indeed had no academic or disciplinary cases to my name as of the time of nomination and selection for the Gawad Chancellor Award.

Seven months ago, on August 6, 2007, we took an exam in one of our majors. Days after, some students complained that cheating happened during the exam. They insisted that those accused should be punished. However, it was said that they did not want to write and sign a formal complaint, hence, proper investigations could not ensue. To resolve the issue, the teacher asked the consensus of the students to take a retest to nullify the first exam. In the retake, my friends and I obtained the same high marks; I got a score of 100%.

From then on, rumors filled the halls of the UP School of Economics. In one instance, my name was even written on the freedom bulletin board and labeled a cheater. Countless emails had been sent by random students from the batch, condemning the accused. These malicious rumors even reached my friends at the De La Salle University in Taft.

On October 5, 2007, the UP School of Economics Faculty released a position paper and posted it in each and every single classroom door of the college, “expressing its extreme disappointment that these students have violated not only the rules of the University but our trust.” It is so painful, even though our names were not mentioned, (everybody knew from hearsay anyway) that we were condemned without evidence or trials by our own teachers. This was prior to any formal investigation or the opportunity to hear out our side.

You know the feeling when one day you wake up and suddenly your life is over? When in just a snap there was nothing to work hard for or to live for anymore. It’s hard to walk into a room full of haters and accusers. It’s hard to report in class when everyone stares at you with cold, accusing eyes. It’s hard to receive the highest score on a test when people around you think you’ve cheated again to get that 99. It’s hard to consult with professors regarding your thesis when their fellow teachers look as if they abhorred your mere presence. I felt I didn’t belong in UP anymore. As if I didn’t belong to me anymore. In a single instant, I was no longer myself. The career path I had laid out in front of me was suddenly blocked. All the things I spent twenty-one years to build were suddenly gone. My reputation and my integrity were suddenly tainted. The person that I am suddenly lost credibility. And I don’t deserve this.

It made me see indeed the realness and bitterness of this world. That one is susceptible to hate. People hate you without you ever really doing anything to them; when you’re just really minding your own business. Apparently, your business is their business and they want to destroy it. My group and I, the alleged “cheaters” have been a victim of hate and hostility in our immediate environment. We were dubbed as “conyo,” the group from private schools who thought them better than anyone else. In the pursuit of service to fellow students, a good number of us had also run for the Student Council and subsequently lost to the hate-driven political agenda of the majority. They said we had everything—the money, the leadership positions in various student organizations, the grades, and the resumes. They said we resorted to bribing professors and authorities. These are nothing but absurd, hateful propaganda against us. One of the accusers even sent a text message to one of us saying that the only way to save himself was if “idiin mo sila” (referring to us). What a coincidence that the reported accused is a group of friends, composed of Summa, Magna, and Cum Laude-standing students. And what more, these students were also Presidents, Vice-Presidents, and Officers of their respective student organizations. During these moments, I learned about the crab mentality that plagued the world, the abhorrence for merit and excellence. When you’re up, people try desperately to bring you down. When I told some school officials about this ‘great divide’ in the college, they were surprised, and, apparently, they still do not know that this hate campaign had been a problem not just in our year but reportedly in the previous years. This campus culture is a bad reflection of the entire university.

I did not cheat to get high grades. I have not cheated my way through college. All that I am and all that I have right now are the product of hard work and sheer dedication. Any logical person would agree that it is much, much easier to study for four years than to cheat for four years. My professors, past and present, and the people who really know me can vouch for my performance. Thus, I call for justice and due process. I call for the stop of trial by publicity and biased judgments. I call for the University’s commitment to merit and excellence in its proceedings.

Bernadette G. Lopez

IV Business Economics, School of Economics

University of the Philippines Diliman

here is the letter of her father published in businessworld. got this from celeni.

Business World, 12 March 2008

UPSHOT

UP's Great Divide
Bernardo V. Lopez

There is a strange conflict ranging in the School of Economics (SE) of the University of the Philippines.

SE is reputed to be the best in Southeast Asia, a center of excellence, yet there are forces within SE trying to suppress this excellence.

Because the conflict has been going on for years, they have coined a term for it -- "the great divide." Yet many professors and school officials do not even know it exists. On one side are students who came from private schools like Ateneo and La Salle. On the other side are those who did not. They are all bright and talented, except that perhaps the minority from private schools have better communication skills and a better command of English, though there are exceptions. Because they always speak English, and perhaps exude a certain kind of self-esteem and confidence, they have been the object of hatred by others. More so my daughter Bernadette. She is a candidate for summa cum laude, vice president of her organization, and a possible topnotcher for UP's entire graduating batch, and was singled out.

It began with accusations of cheating during an exam last semester. The report was rumor-based. No one wanted to come forward and make a formal charge. The accused group was said to be the cream of the graduating class - one summa, Bernadette, and the rest, all magna and cum laudes. They were presidents, vice presidents, and officers of various student organizations. It seemed excellence was the target of hatred. The freedom bulletin board and the batch yahoogroup were splattered with anonymous derogatory accusations. Text messages spread that they would graduate without honors.

The class gave their consensus for a reexamination on one subject, where the accused group received the same high marks; my daughter got a score of 100%. The final grades for the subject were released, accepted, and encoded by the SE. However, the proctoring teacher, who denied there was cheating, was accused of being incompetent. One angry SE professor took the cudgels for the accusers and wanted the teacher thrown out despite the absence of charges, evidence, and due process.

Because the rumors had spread to other schools, the accusers now had a problem. There was pressure for hard evidence from witnesses. A fact-finding committee was formed. There was no more time. Graduation is around the corner. At the last moment, the committee started shopping for witnesses and even cited incidents from several years back. Now the image of the entire university is at stake, if it denies recognition to those who deserve it, assuming innocence.

The angry SE professor succeeded in blocking Bernadette from the Gawad Chancellor Award, the most prestigious in the university, on a mere phone call, no documents, arguing that the university would be put in an embarrassing situation if it gave an award and recalled it later. On the contrary, it would be more embarrassing if it denied students the right to recognition, as guaranteed by the faculty manual, only on the basis of hearsay. The blocking action is seen by many as tantamount to presuming guilt. A university official later admitted that the award committee was amiss in making a decision based on insufficient information.

Bernadette, in a letter to the university president, the chancellor, and the dean of the School of Economics, wrote, "[the university's] commitment to merit and excellence was desecrated."

She further wrote, "On October 5, 2007, the UP School of Economics Faculty released a position paper and posted it in each and every single classroom door of the college, “expressing its extreme disappointment that these students have violated not only the rules of the University but our trust.” It is so painful, even though our names were not mentioned, (everybody knew from hearsay anyway) that we were condemned without evidence or trials by our own teachers. This was prior to any formal investigation or the opportunity to hear out our side.

"You know the feeling when one day you wake up and suddenly your life is over? When in just a snap there was nothing to work hard for or to live for anymore. It’s hard to walk into a room full of haters and accusers. It’s hard to report in class when everyone stares at you with cold, accusing eyes...

"I did not cheat to get high grades. I have not cheated my way through college. All that I am and all that I have right now are the product of hard work and sheer dedication. Any logical person would agree that it is much, much easier to study for four years than to cheat for four years. My professors, past and present, and the people who really know me can vouch for my performance. Thus, I call for justice and due process. I call for the stop of trial by publicity and biased judgments. I call for the University’s commitment to merit and excellence in its proceedings." (See http://beachbaby.multiply.com for the full text.)

The Constitution guarantees everyone, including my daughter, the right to presumption of innocence. The Revised Penal Code of the Philippines also holds crimes of dishonor, whether committed by fellow students or angry teachers, as punishable by law.

eastwind@motherignaciaministry.com

Dear Mr Lopez,

I am currently a student of the UP School of Economics, and yes, I am a batchmate of your daughter (she was actually my editor last year). Your recent Upshot column in Business World (March 12) was rather a double-edged sword, and quite frankly, offensive. I do know that you are trying to protect your daughter and her reputation with the rest of the world, but there was a gross mischaracterization of the institution (that is the School of Economics), that I assume moulded your daughter in the past four years. I will not comment on the incidents that led to this controversial issue in campus, but I would like to remark to the salient points of the critique of our school.

The title itself "UP's Great Divide" is particularly misleading. The social dynamics of our school cannot be reduced to a dichotomy between the private-school-kids-who-speak-better-Eng

lish vs "the others". I also came from a private, Catholic high school upbringing, with above average oral and written English skills. However, even if I do speak in English in regular hallway conversations and exude the confidence that you characterised in your article, I do not feel ire and dismay from the greater student body. In fact, I do not think that the greater student body has a knack for condemning people based on their socio-economic background or their choice of vernacular. I find it particularly offensive that even if you generalized the student body as "bright and talented", you still condemned some of them as baseless accusers who will falsify events based on their slightly inferior English-speaking skills. I do believe that almost everyone in our University, especially the School of Economics, are bright and talented. And to be consistent with this belief, I do not believe that people would be petty enough to create life-destroying judgements only because they're jealous about other people's confidences. This generalisation about the great divide of our school becomes more problematic because you have published this information on a paper read by a lot of our future employers, mentors and colleagues.

Furthermore, it seems as if a lot of the university's action towards resolving the case has been put in question. The article insinuates that there is no form of due process that addresses the issue, when in fact, there is. While I do not know who the "angry SE professor" is, in his or her defence, I believe that any authority in an academic institution will naturally be enraged by academic dishonesty, even by the sheer idea of it occurring. The suspension of the Gawad Chanselor could probably signify a continuous investigation process, one that wasn't resolved yet, and not merely based on a professor's appeal based on rumours. I think that the award committee, led by the Chancellor himself, would be rational enough to weigh the costs and benefits of the suspension given that the entire issue functions on asymmetric information. It is rash to make immediate judgements about actions taken when a lot of tangential issues have not been settled.

In the same way you defend your daughter's innocence, I also defend the character of the university in how they handle affairs that involve morality and ambiguity.

Here's to hoping that things get clearer in the near future.

Cheers,

--
CELENI KRISTINE G. GUINTO
School of Economics
University of the Philippines
Diliman, Quezon City