‘Due diligence’ in probe into hazing report, Lyceum vows

In behalf of the Lyceum of the Philippines University, which is the full and complete name of the institution, I am responding to the editorial of Inquirer’s Jan.  15 issue (Opinion, “Barbaric ritual”).

While we cannot agree more that hazing is particularly “abhorrent” and that “there is no justification for this twisted ritual to remain in practice,” we wish to add that our university has taken actual and concrete steps to discourage our students from joining fraternities and sororities. With this in mind, we have been requiring all new students to sign—with the knowledge and conformity of their parents—an undertaking for this purpose.

Moreover, for mere membership in such organizations, our university, as stated in our Student Handbook, may impose the penalty of exclusion from school. We remind our students of this serious penalty and the risks they face in joining such organizations during the yearly student orientation seminar; and our life skills seminars focus on developing self-awareness and resiliency. All of these have been shown to have deterred students from joining fraternities and sororities as we haven’t had any reported hazing incident in recent memory.

Rest assured the university continues to exercise due diligence in investigating the recent incident.

We wish to add that though the apparent failure to eradicate such a barbaric tradition needs to be addressed by school authorities, such responsibility is shared by the much larger community—and this includes not just school administrators and faculty, but also government and political leaders, religious institutions, the military, civil society, and the youth.

SANDRA G. RECTO, director, Communication and Public Affairs Department, Lyceum of the Philippines University-Manila Campus