JULY 04, 2009


ENGR. CECILIA ESPINOSA
Chemical Engineering Department Chair
Faculty of Engineering


Dear Engr. Espinosa,

Greetings in the name of St. Thomas Aquinas!

Our class, 5ChE-A, was informed yesterday that our Engineering Management course’s (GE302) schedule was moved from Saturday 10AM to 1PM, to Saturday 6PM to 9PM. We would like to express our reprehension towards this immediate change of schedule without prior consultation with our class. Also, we would like express our intention to petition the schedule of the said course to be moved on a more convenient time for the majority of the class members based on the following grounds:

• Most of the class members who live in the provinces return to their domicile over the weekend. The current schedule shall impair this luxury, for they shall be forced to stay in school until 9PM every Saturday.
  
• Half of the class is of female composition. There has been a case wherein a female member of the class has been harassed while going home one night. The addition of another night to the class schedule would mean another night of exposure to the danger of the streets to this female or to the female members in general.
  
• We were given the liberty to choose our section during the pre-sectioning day prior to the start of the classes. We chose 5ChE-A as our section because the pre-made schedule for this section is the most convenient for our different activities whether social, extra-curricular, personal, etc.
  

In line with our petition, kindly consider the following as an alternative to the current schedule:

• Every Tuesday and Wednesday, our class has straight 4-5 hrs inbetween breaks. It would be more convenient for us if GE302 will be moved in these time allotment.
  
• Revert to the original schedule.

Attached herewith is the list of names and signatures of the class members.

We are seeking your kind approval of our petition. Thank You!


Respectfully yours,



MEMBERS OF THE 5ChE-A CLASS

This is the petition letter that I made in behalf of the class so as to change the current schedule of our Engineering Management course. I wasn’t around yesterday because of the Staff Application Interview of the Central Student Council, of which I am a committee director. I learned that the whole class signed the said petition letter and was ready to give it to the authorities. Unfortunately, something happened during the said course and the class ultimately decided to just accept the given schedule.

Student’s Rights
This is exactly the reason why the Magna Carta for Student Rights, more popularly known as the Students’ Code, should be ratified. I simply find what happened to our class unjust. This, and loads more that I have written before here in my blog. We were not consulted prior to the change. We were all shocked, especially me that I heard GA instead of GE, about the new schedule. If the Students’ Code is ratified, this shall give a pro-student approach. This shall give the chance to the students to participate in policy making decisions. I don’t know if the new CSC Administration will revise the Students’ Code. But what I do know is that the current draft to put it simply is students first. I believe in this statement very much considering that the students ARE the STAKEHOLDERS of the UNIVERSITY. If the Students’ Code was ratified as it should be, this incident would never have happened.

Wilberchie’s point of view
There was the 2nd semester. There was the summer break. There was the late start of classes. There was the 1st week of classes. There was the one week suspension of classes. I think that these are ample time to find a suitable instructor for the given pre-made schedule. More so, Engineering Management is a General Engineering course, hence the shortcut GE. This means that other departments are also offering the same course. Since this is a General subject for all majors, why not get someone not from our own department? Also, since section B is from 7-10AM, what’s wrong with our original schedule of 10AM-1PM? Honestly, the current schedule is impairing my social life. And it SUCKS! Big time!

Thank you to all my classmates who trusted my ability to draft this petition letter. Always remember that my loyalty will always be yours! I love you all! MwWAHAHHA!