Academic break and recent events in a northern university

By Joshua Corcuera

Last Saturday evening, #AcademicBreakNOWSLU trended with over 23,000 tweets. At first glance, I thought that there was nothing peculiar about it given that academic break demands are widespread during the pandemic. But apparently, there were very disturbing reports as to recent events.

For context, Saint Louis University (SLU) is a university in Baguio City with reportedly over 40,000 students. It is an enormous educational institution and for a university outside Metro Manila, it is quite prestigious having produced several notable alumni as well from National Artist Cirilo Bautista to Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong.

Despite its prominence, SLU has been criticized lately by some of its students for allegedly providing heavy workloads. According to UP Baguio Outcrop, the official student publication of UP Baguio, “a candle lighting protest to seek justice for the death of one student and other unverified cases” was held on Saturday evening.

Trigger warning. There were unverified reports that some students from SLU have claimed their lives. Though some people, obviously, dispute such claims, it should not come as a surprise if the reports were true. Assuming it is true, may they find solace in the afterlife.

This tragic event is not the first reported case, however. Many similar cases were reported last year while deaths due to other reasons were likewise reported such as a student who died in a vehicular accident to complete academic tasks. From these reports, authorities and school administrators all over the country must listen to their students.

With the pandemic, things are so difficult that some had their mental health deteriorating. Likewise, dear reader, your mental health and overall well-being is more important than academics. In these trying times, it is imperative for everyone—including educators and school administrators—to be compassionate to their students, to help them with their struggles.

Despite the academic break trending on Twitter, there are signs of pessimism among some students—and for good reason. Last year, students were also able to trend academic break demands—but to no avail. The demands of a struggling youth fell on deaf ears. Hopefully, this would not happen this time and that the voice of the youth would be heard.

While reading comments in regard to the issue, I saw a few that criticized students for being “dramatic” and “OA.” Furthermore, I saw another comment telling students not to enroll instead if they cannot bear the workload. Such insensitive comments must be condemned; they are part of the reason why students have to deal with unnecessarily difficult tasks because they tolerate an unjust system.

From here, I wish to emphasize that students demanding an academic break, or an academic ease are not lazy. They are students who are also humans, not robots or machines. They are students who are capable of contributing to social development with their human minds, but social realities are turning them into robots, hindering their capacity to change the world for the better. More importantly, I know some students personally in favor of academic break and guess what, they excel in their academics and survive college despite the difficulties of the current set-up.