Capitol Chronicle volume 25 issue 1 June-August 2013 | Page 20

FEATUREs v o l u m e 2 5 • i s s u e N o . 0 1 c a p i t o l c h r o n i c l e 20 Voice Out By Noreen G. Tabacoan and Krissa G. Omandam A s Capitol Chronicle continues to provide an outlet for student expression, we make our best efforts of giving them opportunities to raise their concerns regarding school matters that greatly affect them. However, as we strive to provide balance and accurate coverage of events, we always make sure that all parties involved are heard so that necessary steps are taken for a shared decision-making. Hence, the Voice Out. Internet CONCERN: “We thought that the Wi-Fi connection in the campus was broad enough. Somehow, it is not able to reach a lot of areas inside the campus especially in the engineering building.” ANSWER: “We are fully aware of blind spots and we are doing our best to address this problem as well as improving the system. In fact, we are currently testing our newly purchased devices which are expected to have longer range to increase the Wi-Fi signal inside the campus.” CONCERN: “Would it be possible to increase the 48-hour limit of internet use per student? ANSWER: “The 48 hours of internet use is actually already an increase of last year’s 20-hour limit per student,” said Mr. Sterling G. Ong, Management of Information System Manager. Library CONCERN: “The library does not have the books that our professors use in our discussions, lectures and assignments.” ANSWER: “We always make sure that we could secure a copy of the book that instructors are using in their classes and place them in the Reserved Section in the library for students’ easy access, but the problem is that, some of the instructors do not inform us the books and references that they are using, that is the reason why we do not have them in the library. If the instructor fails to inform us, students can request the book directly from the library staff so that we could provide it immediately,” said Dr. Chorieta L. Valerio, the Library Director. Canteen CONCERN: “The canteen cannot accommodate a lot of students eating there especially during lunch time. Most of us either eat in our classrooms or have our lunch outside.” ANSWER: “We will definitely add more chairs and tables to cater the increased number of students eating in the canteen. Aside from it, we also ensure the safety of the foods prepared as well as in maintaining the cleanliness of the school canteen,” said Mr. Leo A. Pangan, Head of Physical Plant Facility Maintenance Office. College of Business Administration CONCERN: “We have classes in the Engineering building and that sometimes we get reprimanded by our teachers for being late since our next class will still be in the Academic Building I. Would it be possible if we can have a room near the Academic Building I? ANSWER: “There has been an unprecedented increase on the number of students enrolled for the semester and as much as we would want to give convenience, there are no more rooms near the Business Administration that we could use, that is why we have to use rooms in the Engineering building. What we could do about this is to tell instructors to give consideration on student’s tardiness because we have to understand that they will need time to get to another building,” said Dr. Elizabeth Figueroa, Dean of the College of Business Administration. College of Maritime Education CONCERN:”The school bags for Maritime students are quite expensive yet it don’t last for a long time.” ANSWER: “We already informed our supplier regarding this concern and they are already making actions to this. They said they will retrieve all the broken bags and replace them with better ones. The students owning the bag should just bring it to the gift shop for retrieval. But for the meantime, we cannot determine yet when would this be possible,” said Mrs. Marilyn C. Hubayan, College of Maritime Education Secretary. College of Education CONCERN: “Is there a possibility that the “mother-tongue language” can be a special subject for education students, especially for the BEED?” ANSWER: “Yes. Our Dean, Dr. De Torres already said it in the orientation that the “mother-tongue language” will be a special subject for the BEED students. It will be integrated in the Professional Education courses,” said Dr. Ma. Jessica P. Campano, Administrative Assistant to the Dean of the College of Education. College of Criminology CONCERN: Why are female criminology students not allowed to join the drillers? ANSWER: It is not that female students are not allowed to join the drillers. The problem is that the training is so rigid and it is usually done in the evening. We also have not received any female aspirants for drillers. But if they can pass the training, why not?” said Dr. Nenita Caño, Dean of the College of Criminology. Editor’s Note. The characters in this photo only voluntarily enacted this article but this does not reflect to their being a person.