Statement of Support for 11 SE Students’ Call for Due Process

To The University Council:

“No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of the law, nor shall any person be denied equal protection of the law.”[1]

The case of the eleven graduating students undergoing disciplinary proceedings before the Student Disciplinary Tribunal for charges of cheating is yet to be resolved. The administration of the School of Economics have decided to prevent them for graduating as they await, for an indeterminable period, the final resolution of the case.

The students stand to lose more if they are prevented from graduating and subsequently found innocent, than the university if the students are later found guilty. Although commencement exercises are but a formal ceremony, it nonetheless is not an ordinary occasion, since such ceremony is the educational institution’ s way of announcing to the whole world that the students included in the list of those who will be conferred a degree during the baccalaureate ceremony have satisfied all the requirements for such degree.[2]They will not only be deprived of their right to attend their much awaited graduation, but will be stigmatized before their future colleagues. They will likewise be prevented from seeking immediate employment, and effectively, from getting on with their lives.

Under the rules, every student undergoing disciplinary proceedings shall not be subjected to any disciplinary penalty except upon due process of law[3]and that pending final decision on any charges the said student shall enjoy all his rights and privileges as a student.[4]

It is in this regard that we, the members of the University Student Council, urge the University Council to allow the eleven students from the School of Economics participate in the commencement exercises on April 25, in accordance with the rights set forth in the Rules and Regulations on Student Conduct and Discipline.

We likewise urge the Board of Regents to convene and amend the rules, setting forth guidelines in order to protect the rights of graduating students with unresolved cases, and to ensure the speedy disposition of these proceedings.

Due process, we must not forget, is not merely a high ideal that we seek to uphold but a right to which everyone is entitled. It is guaranteed by no less than our country’s constitution and reaffirmed by the very rules which students adhere to and which the university is mandated to protect.

[1] Section 1, Article III, 1987 Philippine Constitution
[2] University of the East vs.Jader, G.R. No. 132344 (2000)
[3] id Section 22, paragraph a
[4] id Section 22, paragraph c