It’s really unfortunate that crucial campus issues weren’t able to come to light as much because of this.

What’s even more unfortunate is the fact that this could have been easily resolved had the Collegian give the UP Admin the benefit of a doubt and allowed its publishing requirements to undergo the Administration’s bidding process at least for the first semester.

Why do I say this? Because all the complaints and problems of the Collegian for refusing to undergo the bidding process are all assumptions. They assume that the Administration’s process is more corrupt than theirs when it’s just the Pot calling the Kettle black, as the Collegian and Stand-UP has their own problems with corruption. They assume that it’s the Administration’s way of suppressing freedom of expression when there hasn’t been any reason to believe that.

Simply put, they’re relying on slippery slope logic that only serves to detriment the entirety of the UP student population. In other words, they’re pushing their own agenda using the resources of the students.

My proposal? The Collegian should simply remove their dependency on the UP Administration. Use the different College Student Councils (who are mostly Stand-UP party members anyway) to collect the Collegian Fund. Collect the Collegian Fund by selling the paper through the different stores and cafeterias all over campus. There are so many ways to resolve this issue. The Collegian doesn’t need the Administration, and yet they continue to push for crap like this because it makes the most noise.

Truly unfortunate indeed.

Because all the complaints and problems of the Collegian for refusing to undergo the bidding process are all assumptions. They assume that the Administration’s process is more corrupt than theirs when it’s just the Pot calling the Kettle black, as the Collegian and Stand-UP has their own problems with corruption.

Huh? That’s not even the issue. And you’re also making assumptions.

In other words, they’re pushing their own agenda using the resources of the students.

The resources of students? As far as I know, pera nila and solicitations and nagamit sa lahat ng publicity na ginawa nila exactly because the resources of the students are being witheld from them.

I agree though on finding alternative ways to collect the student fund, next time. For now, the funds have been collected so the call for its release is and will continue to be demanded as long as the administration withholds it.

Please refer to the Collegian website for more details.

Ask your higher-ups. That’s an issue for them. At least, that’s the justification that they gave me.

The resources of the students because while they’re the refusing to just get on with it and cooperate with the Administration, the resources of the students that are being held hostage are not being used.

Next time? When will that be? At this point the Collegian is basically stuck between an unstoppable force (administration) and an immovable object (their thick skulls). Meanwhile, what’s going to happen to the student’s payments? Nothing. That’s why I’m suggesting, play ball with them, just so we can release it as soon as possible and just so we can publish as soon as possible. NEXT TIME, don’t deal with the Administration if you don’t want to.

Touché David.

I never thought that fiscal autonomy is tantamount to the autonomy of a publication. The student fund isn’t solely intended for the Collegian and I understand why the Administration has to supervise the allocation of these funds. The refusal of the Collegian to cooperate in the bidding process for a publisher makes their intentions more suspicious. The reason why there’s a loophole in the Campus Journalism Act and the way our Administration is handling things is it does not explicitly collect a subscription fee from the student body. The student fund then becomes a tax and the administration has been technically authorised to allocate these funds. The issue here is simple: is it depriving campus journalism from a “fair” allocation?

I don’t think so. It’s a conditional allocation, and so as long as the conditions do not stifle freedom of speech (seriously, how does finding for a better/cheaper publisher directly link to censorship??) I think it makes sense. But whatever. I don’t know the complete details so I’m not going to be assertive. I might drop by the convocation on Monday.

School Papers should always have the autonomy from the school admin… but with funds… hmmm… I dunno about that….

The soundness of the RA 9184 bidding process isn’t what’s being contested. It’s that it is being forced upon the Collegian. If ever we DO wish to go through this admin-facilitated bidding, we should do it out of our own accord. Not like this, where we can’t publish if we don’t agree to it. Our argument is simple: the Collegian is an independent student institution, not a government office. Our printing presses are properly canvassed, our budget is sound (and the Chancellor has agreed to this) and our expenses are monitored by the UP Accounting Office, and audited at the end of the year by the Commission on Audit. We do not see why we have to go through RA 9184, a law for government offices.

The Campus Journalism Act recognizes that a student paper is independently published by students. And its funds should never be withheld at any instance.

We are unable to publish unless we agree to the UP administration’s wishes. THAT is an attack on our independence. THAT is suppression.

You’re right. It should be an independent student institution.

But if that were the case, why was it depending on the UP Administration to collect its funds?

This is the thing that I find ridiculous about the whole issue. The Collegian seems to want to have its cake and eat it too. It wants to assert its independence as a student institution, and yet wants the government to handle all the collection of its funding.

If you want to be independent, go ahead! Be independent. That’s what’s supposed to happen anyway. But don’t contradict yourself and depend on the administration if you do so.

That being the case, my position here is simply this. The Collegian NEEDS to resolve this issue as soon as possible. If that means undergoing the bidding process now, fine. Now that it’s over and done with, you can opt not to go through the administration anymore. It’s not just the money that’s involved here (the student’s money to be more precise), it’s the expression of student freedom. It’s the dissemination of information. There are so many things at stake here that the the Collegian seems to ignore simply because of some petty “because i don’t wanna!” mindset.

[...] According to their editor-in-chief in this blog, “The soundness of the RA 9184 bidding process isn’t what’s being contested. It’s that it is being forced upon the Collegian. If ever we DO wish to go through this admin-facilitated bidding, we should do it out of our own accord. Not like this, where we can’t publish if we don’t agree to it. Our argument is simple: the Collegian is an independent student institution, not a government office.” [...]

[...] Tonight’s episode of Studio 23’s Y-Speak was about media and the role of the youth in media. A segment of the show tackled campus press freedom and they took on the case of the Philippine Collegian or Kule. Kule hasn’t been published for months now because the university administration is witholding its funds from the editorial board. The issue is greatly tackled at Kule’s website, and I’ve posted a blog entry about it here. [Sorry for the bad quality of the video. My Studio 23 signal is very noisy. The audio is okay, though.] Filed under: College Comments: [...]