LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Concerned students and alumni of the State-run Benguet State University (BSU) raised concern on the alleged deviation of the present administration from the vision that was perfectly packaged during the selection process of the institution’s new head late last year.
Sources, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal from the allies of the present administration, claimed that the present leadership enjoyed the support of most sectors during the selection process and the eventual installation of the school’s new head but as the months passed by, the leadership is slowly losing its grip on the direction that was supposed to be guided by the established vision of the university.
The sources stated they were supportive of the programs, projects and activities of the present leadership because they were really properly packaged for the appreciation of the members of the Board of Regents who selected BSU’s next president, but as the months passed by, it seems that the management is losing track on its supposed direction that is why some of them already started withdrawing their support to the present administration.
Further, the supposed listening administration as what had been widely projected is now not listening because right from the start, the suggestions and recommendations of concerned sectors on how to effectively and efficiently manage the higher education institution were never considered as part of the reforms that were to be implemented, and that the administration just stuck by the traditional way of governance.
According to them, the present situation is the same as during the previous administration where the institution seemed to be an ivory tower which created a huge barrier between the university and similar government agencies and local governments despite their supposed symbiotic relationship.
The sources stipulated that the present administration even blatantly defied the earlier request of Benguet Caretaker Congressman and Anti-Crime and Terrorism through Community Involvement and Support (ACT-CIS) Party-list Eric Yap not to willingly dispose of landholdings of the university to maximize the same for the implementation of big ticket projects, like the put up of a local version of a techno hub, among others, to help generate income that will be plowed back to the institution to improve the quality of education being offered to the students.
The sources also questioned the failure of the present administration to fulfill its promise to put in place the institution’s comprehensive master development plan as the blueprint for the development programs, projects and activities to be implemented by the present and future administrations of the institution to facilitate the optimum use of the lands both for education and income-generating endeavors and make the institution to be fiscally healthy.
The sources observed that the number of people transacting business in the institution has been rapidly dwindling over the past several months because people supposedly providing inputs on how to run a higher education institution have been ignored. By HENT