Editorial

The most creative suggestion wins a free The Guidon t-shirt.

Student politics have often intrigued grown-ups. It has been an off-repeated theme that despite claims to the contrary, the Ateneo is nothing more than a small duplicate of Philippine society, complete with controversial politics, but at the same time, possessing a populace seething with indifference. That’s right, pal. The CB has an image problem. CB does not stand for crystal ball — no one knows what this thing is yet. Have an idea? Drop us a line at the Publications Room. The most creative suggestion wins a free The Guidon t-shirt.

Many times it seems that the elections will be turned into a circus. Remember when they had to drag people in from the corridors to vote in order to meet the 60% election requirement? Now you get the picture. COMELEC teasers threatened “VOTE OR DIE” in red. “Parang awa niyo na, bumoto na kayo,” is not a slogan any decent campaign would use, not even in jest. All a bad joke, condemnably spineless attempts at persuasion.

Results from two independent surveys in the Ateneo show that a majority is likely to abstain from voting for any of the candidates for president — natural selection. Of the students who knew the candidates, many had an air of indifference. Perhaps they really didn’t know the candidates. One JC candidate, tired, dejected and fighting tears on Friday night, said, “I’d rather have lost than seen this happen.” Our elders have taught us that winning is not all, and that there is much to be gained in the course of the game.

With the lacklustre campaign of many candidates, there were fears these innocently looking clubs are fertile hot-beds of communism. Cutting in lunch lines has become a custom. Students complain of the lack of parking spaces, the danger of theft, the makeshift conditions of the parking lots, the distance of the parking slots from classrooms. Found on a blackboard in Room 206: “Did you know that Dante went to Inferno just for the hell of it?” In the Ateneo alone, a 16% tuition hike. The college cafeteria sells an average of 7 packs of cigarettes a day. The Guidon boss keeps two air pistols in his filing cabinet. May come in handy… Elitist bullies. Maturity is not about being spoiled brats — having demands granted immediately. This restlessness will end within us when we reach our true home — Christ.

Maybe we just don’t care as much about our school administration as we do our nation’s, and that’s the paradox. The dreaming stage is over. It is time for us to face facts, face reality: the declining Atenean. History is threatening to repeat itself. Shall we learn from the past? Let’s hope that next time, we can overcome our chronic political immaturity. We hope that the attitude of these collegemen will change and that everyone will show the discipline and cooperation that the Student Council needs. If the Atenean is to think in the real world, he ought to think here, too. We, the students, are entitled to nothing less. So what are you doing sitting around reading this editorial?