By Andrea D. Lim,
Paulynne R. de la Cruz,
and Eric Gerard D. Ruiz
MARK RAYGAN GARCIA, director of the Office of Information and Publications, stressed that students who have complaints on university personnel or system should pass a written complaint or e-mail addressed to the administration using the official university email so that they can “act on it.”
This is in relation to the complaints on teachers submitting grades and attending classes late, and being absent without valid excuses. These complaints reached the administration, but no written complaint was submitted.
Garcia said that students should be bold enough to complain to their deans, department heads, or directly to the administration. Through this, they will be able to start the process of evaluating these problems.
“We encourage students to complain and inform us what needs to be corrected,” Garcia said.
He also said that the Silliman University Faculty Association (SUFA) ensures that the teachers would seriously comply with the provisions in the university manual as well as terms of agreement between the administration and faculty association.
However, Garcia said that some teachers have gaps in how they implement and observe provisions in the university manual.
Volume III of the Unified University Manual S.Y. 2010-2011 states that “all teachers are expected to be present on time at each class.”
Teachers have a 15-minute grace period. More than 30-minutes late in class without prior permission and approval of the dean or chairperson is equivalent to a half-day absence. They will also not be given salaries for unexcused missed class meetings.
Those who commit violations such as tardiness and unauthorized absences are subjected to verbal or reprimand, written with recorded instances of offense, and disciplinary suspension.
“[If] the teachers were not able to give the students what is due to them, we encourage and we will be very happy for students to take active involvement in correcting that,” Garcia said.
According to Fred Cadelina, the chair of the sociology and anthropology department, tardiness is an attitude problem.
“Some teachers are not dedicated to their work. I’ve known and heard of several teachers na ang ilang mga test papers naa ra sa ilahang mga drawers, dili evaluated at gatapok lang. These are the kinds of teachers who should not be in Silliman,” Cadelina said.
He added that he is not well informed on the university manual rules on personnel tardiness and that faculty members are ‘supposed’ to know the sanctions on negative practices.
“Nag-exist ang provisions, unya sige’g gipang-usob, dayon until such time nga murag personally, ‘di nako interested to know. I just perform my duties as a teacher, especially submitting grades on time,” he said.
The Unified University Manual is not yet approved, but is still used as a basis on university concerns. The manual undergoes a periodic review once in the first three years and once in every two years in the succeeding years. The Board of Trustees’ approval is needed for the process.
Meanwhile, SUFA President Jan Anthony Credo said that there is no justification in terms of factors of teachers’ tardiness. However, according to him, some reasons might be because of the emerging traffic in the city and family concerns.
“The teacher should set the things earlier. He could come 20-30 minutes before the time giving an allowance on traffic considering that mao na siya ang problema,” Credo said.
He also said that if the problem of tardiness becomes habitual, the administration will intervene to correct the behavior. SUFA can only remind the teachers not to come
to class late as it is as important as submitting grades on time.~
