Student Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy

The following is from a note posted by the USC-SSC President, Frances Jan Villarino. 

This speech i will deliver this afternoon at the CAFA THEATER, 2pm.

Another appeal to the MALE UNIFORM POLICY< THE BUNGOT AND LONG HAIR POLICY, CROSS-DRESSING etc…

Good afternoon.

Let me be honest to admit that spiritual development has not been a priority in this year’s SSC administration as it never was in the six years that I have been in this university.

There were however some minimal projects or programs that dealt with vocation jam, or worship revive activities, outreach programs which we may claim as an act of giving importance to strengthening our catholic character and emboldening our faith.

So then when I received the email from Bro. Abulad saying our speeches should take the form of a report of how our respective organizations helped in promoting catholicity and possibly also a critique to how our own university is performing in promoting catholicity, I was not very sure if I should accept the invitation to speak before you today.

The common tao’s initial reaction when we hear the word catholicity would always relate to the spiritual aspect of an institution, such as the university. Hence I said to myself, I could not criticize something which I myself and the organization I run has not been doing anything with to help in the first place. It would be like asking God to make me win the lotto without even buying a ticket.

However, I talked to this professor friend who explained to me the  more essential meaning of catholicity that being catholic, entails being inclusive and being open to the other, whether this may be different cultures, rationalities, religions, peoples, etc.

Catholicity recognizes the legitimate uniqueness, distinctiveness or even the strangeness of the other.

And with this I thought, what could have been the reason that for so long SSC administration lack the spiritual aspect in our line of priorities rather, our focus are on the uniform policy, the student publication, the review of the student manual, which recently as we solicited comments and suggestions, students were more concerned of the beard and long-hair policies. Most programs were for concerts, fashion shows, talent shows and the likes. We have mastered student rights and welfare forgetting the moral responsibility to promote our faith.

Analyzing the student’s trend of interest, it seems we are more concerned of our individuality, we are more concerned of seeking acceptance for who we are, we are interested of showing our uniqueness, our way of life be it modern or traditional. These are things we worry about because in this university we controlled, we are suppressed to show who we are, we are ordered, required, demanded to be someone we are not so to live a true Carolinian identity. We of course recognize that our administration wants to guide us to a good path, of socially responsible individuals, lifelong learners living in the spirit of the holy trinity.

However, these characteristics , this identity …should not be imposed and cannot be imposed, it should be learned by the individual in his own self , it is something that naturally grows within us, let our differences, our complexities and our variations find its own way of convergence to create a  true Carolinian identity, let  us discover our own selves and when we do, we are for sure to discover the greatness of our faith.

We must be allowed to master our own individuality, to cherish and live our cultures and surrender to others cultures to enable us to achieve further mastery of our own. This is how our university should be being a catholic university, we should embrace our differences for within such differences, we find our identity as a community of faith.

We should not impose the uniform, we should not prohibit registrations of student organizations of other faith and religion, we should not prohibit fraternities, we should not prohibit cross-dressing, we should not prohibit males sporting long hair and their beard. This is how we express ourselves! We should not be curtailed, this university should be open to us. For only then can we find our true Carolinian identity, that is beyond appearance, beyond the colors and lengths of our hair but an identity of a community that respects and embraces the uniqueness of the other, a community of liberal intellect, a community unshaken by the threats of technology and modernization because we are a community able to build a solid foundation of defining who we are because we understand the world by seeing and embracing its contrasts and complexities.

And when we are ourselves again, we can now move forward in furthering our knowledge of science, art and develop our virtue and strengthen our devoton to God , to the church.