Dr. Clemen Aquino
Chair, Department of Sociology,
College of Social Sciences and Philosophy
University of the Philippines
Diliman, 1101 Quezon City
Email: sociology@up.edu.ph
Dean Zosimo Lee
College of Social Sciences and Philosophy,
Email: dekano@kssp.upd.edu.ph
Chancellor Sergio Cao
University of the Philippines
Diliman, 1101 Quezon City
Email: oc.upd@up.edu.ph
Please copy furnish (cc) all letters to: tenureforsarahraymundo@gmail.com
Thank you.
9 comments:
I do recognize this kind of treatment for dissenters in the academe. I was a victim of this kind of treatment when I was eased out as college lecturer (without explanation) at a Catholic college in Manila. I supported the faculty/staff strike there and it doesn't take a genius to figure that one out.
The admi there are supposed to be "progressive" but they fired at least 60 teachers (majority of whom worked there for almost 20 years) without batting an eyelash for exercising their constitutional right.
The teachers thought that they can actually practice what they were allowed to teach in the classrooms. The "progressive" professors of the College Dept led the charge in the Inquisition-style busting of the newly-formed Teachers-Employees Union.
At another Catholic University, I like Sarah had good student evaluation records and I had Masteral units at the time when most of the faculty members there only had AB degrees. My crime: I questioned the Admi's commercialization of education when I was a student.
To their credit, the faculty and Chair of the Dept I was working for offered to walk out from their jobs if I was fired. However, I told them to save themselves because I know what will happen to them if they do that. So I found employment somewhere else.
I am glad to see that many people at UP are speaking out against this kind of decision-making that is obviously not based on performance but on politics. What has Sarah done to merit this treatment ? Her bio is your answer.
There are other faculty members who have done things far worse (like sexual harrassment and the like) but stay in their offices because they "play the game".
Although I personally do not believe many of the things I used to, I do not think there is any excuse for firing a person because of their creed or political beliefs. Any educator should be ashamed that this is happening at UP which is supposed to be a bastion of "academic freedom".
If faculty members of other departments keep their silence about this issue, then they are equally guilty as those who implement this kind of medieval policy.
This is an article I wrote after hearing about Sarah Raymundo's injustice. I am republishing it here for this verty worthy cause of seeking justice and tenure for a friend, fellow teacher and activist--
In solidarity and in friendship, Roland
Politikal na Pagkilos at Akademya
Inabisuhan na ang aking kasamahang guro na hindi siya binigyan ng tenure ng kanyang departamento. Na huwag na siyang pumasok sa kanyang klase hanggang hindi naabisuhang pwede pa. Walang nakasulat na paliwanag para sa mga mabibigat na desisyon at order. Kumpleto naman ang aking kaguro sa requirements for tenure: may publikasyon sa refereed journals, mataas ang evaluation ng mga estudyante sa teaching, at maraming committee work na nilahukan.
Ang tanging masapantaha sa pagtatwa ng tenure sa kanya ay ang kanyang politikal na aktibidad. Aktibista ang kagurong ito, kasapi ng progresibong teachers' organization. Sa isang dapat ay liberal na stance ng akademya, hindi pwede itong i-factor-in. Nakakahiya para sa unibersidad na may astang social critic. Kaya ang desisyon ay nananatili pribado, nilangkapan pa ng jargon ng executive meeting, privilege information, at confidentiality.
Ang asta ng departamento niya ay sintomatiko sa neoliberal na direksyon ng kasalukuyang akademya. Nilulusaw ang politikal, gayong OK naman ang tolerance sa iba't ibang politika, maliban nga lang kung ito ay aktibismo ng Kaliwa, na nakabatay sa kilusang masa at pang-uring pagsusuri ng lipunang Filipino. Ang retorika ng panganib ng Kaliwang politika ay hindi hiwalay sa social regulation ng estado.
Ang kaduda-duda sa pagkilos ay marami sa kanyang departamento ay dating aktibista, o nag-aasta na lamang aktibista. Harping on old glories, ika nga, na may pasakalye parati na “aktibista rin naman kami pa,” “kaya nga ako umalis sa kilusan,” “dapat ang kilusan ay ganito, ganoon...” Ang hindi isinasaalang-alang ng ex-aktibista ay ang prefix na nanunuldok na sa kanilang aktibismo.
Una, wala na sila sa kilusan masa, at ang tangi nilang posisyong panlipunan ay mula sa pedestal ng akademya o publikong intelektwal na may limitadong currency. Ikalawa, ang aktibismo ay tinapalan na ng pagsusuring postmodernismo, pluralidad, multiplisidad ng katotohanan, at libertarianismo; na ibig lamang pakahulugan ay ang pag-appropriate ng kasalukuyang buzz words sa kanlurang akademya dahil nga natatabas na ang publikong intelektwal na posisyon ng guro sa pagpiling kumawala sa aktwal na aktibismo.
Nekropolitika ang isinasaalang-alang ng ganitong intelektwal. Pinipiling patayin at paglamayan ang bangkay ng aktibismo, gawing “exhibit A” sa disyerto ng postmodernong landscape at civil society. At ang reiterasyon ng pagluluksa sa aktibismo ay isinasagawa sa bawat contact point sa klase. Mantra na isaad na patay na ang lumang politikal na aktibismo, mabuhay ang aktibismo ng pang-araw-araw na nagbibigay-hustifikasyon sa pagpili ng indibidual at ang kapangyarihan ng kanyang ahensya.
Kaya ang pagsusuri ay ukol pa sa transformasyon ng identidad batay sa pagtanggap sa neoliberalismo. Nakausap ko ang isa pang kaibigan, sinabi ko sa kanya ang aking obserbasyon hinggil sa nangyari sa aming kaguro, at pagsasanga ng pagligwak sa kaguro sa ipinapatupad na kalakarang neoliberalismo, lalo pa sa akademya. Na ang isinasakatuparan ng neoliberalismo ang ang nekropolitika na pumipili sa pagpatay at pagluksa sa aktibismo gayong hindi maaring bigkasin ang isinagawa. Ang aktibismo ang ngalan na ayaw bigyan-ngalan sa pagliligwak ng kalakarang progresibo sa akademya.
Kaya kinausap lamang ang aming kaguro, hindi isinulat ang batayan ng pagligwak at pag-disbar sa mga klase gayong kahit siya hindi bibigyan ng tenure ay may one-year contract pa siya sa kanyang pagtuturo. Mariin pa ngang binanggit na hindi siya nililigwak dahil sa kanyang politika gayong hindi naman isinaad, kahit pabigkas, kung bakit nga ba siya nililigwak. Bakit ayaw tawaging bangkay ang bangkay?
Ayaw kasing magmukhang reaksyonaryo at kontra-aktibismo, sa hayagan, ang mga hinayupak, kahit pa ito ang aktwal na ginagawa nila, patago at hayagan man. Wala itong puwang sa mismong liberalismo at postmodernismong kanilang sinasambit na kumikilala sa pluralidad ng pagkilos at pagbabalikwas sa pang-araw-araw. Dahil hindi pangkaraniwang pang-araw-araw ang aktibismo. Ang aktibismo ay historikal at panlipunang pagtutuos sa karapatan ng nakararaming dinarambong ng iilan.
At naging full-pledged member ng ruling elite ng bansa ang mga nag-disenfranchised sa aktibismo ng aking kagurong kaibigan. Hindi man sila card-carrying member, nag-gatekeep na sila sa class interest ng ruling class sa bansa. Kahindik-hindik ito maging sa unibersidad na may mayamang kasaysayan ng aktibismo. Mapanganib kaya pinapaslang gayong hindi inililibing dahil mas epektibong senyales ang paglalamay sa bangkay kaysa ang krus sa puntod nito. Naghuhudyat ang bangkay ng kapangyarihang pumaslang at kapangyarihang pigilan ang libing.
Sino ang gustong maging bahagi ng lamay na ito? Makakaisip ng retorikal na paliwanag ang mga fakulti na sumangga sa kanyang tenure, at nag-utos na hindi siya papasukin sa klase. Ang kanyang katawan ay pinaslang bilang guro, gayong hindi naman inilibing sa anumang alaala. “Wait ukol further notice,” bilang pagsasaad ng kapangyarihang ipanatili lamang siya sa limbo ng walang puwang na aktibismo sa akademya.
Pero piniling pumasok pa rin ng kagurong aktibista. Pinili niya ang buhay sa pakikibaka, at ang klasrum at akademya bilang sityo ng pang-uring tunggalian sa estado. Ang nekropolitika ng kanyang departamento, maging ng akademya sa edad ng neoliberalismo, ay nagtatangkang pumigil sa kanyang aktibismo, ng pakikisangkot at pakikilahok sa panlipunang pagbabago. At nagmistulang zombie ang kanyang kaguro sa departamento—buhay na patay, patay na buhay sa pagpiling pumanig sa pang-uring interes ng estado.
Ang tagumpay ng neoliberalismo ay hindi pa ang conversion ng sistema at institusyong panlipunan tungo sa poder ng negosyo, at ang maigting na proteksyonismo ng estado sa uring interes na ito. Ang tagumpay ng neoliberalismo ay ang apropriasyon sa deadwood sa akademya at ex-aktibistang binigyan ng panibagong reli (relevance) kahit pa ito mapa-temporal lang naman. Sino ang tunay na pinaglalamayang bangkay?
Patay na. Tinuldukan na ng kasaysayan ng pakikisangkot sa mamamayan. Pero muli pa ring nabuhay sa serum ng neoliberalismo ng estado! Anong kay papangit na mannequin ang mga ito? Ang pagtanda ng walang ikinatanda, ang wanna-be attitude na maging kabahagi ng aktwal nakapangyarihan, ang pagtingin sa departamento bilang sariling turf, at ang Donya Victorina mode na nag-aastang may kapangyarihan at reli kahit wala naman maliban sa mga dapat i-negate sa akademya?
Takot na ang akademya sa politikal na pagkilos dahil ito ang nagpapaalaala sa naagnas nilang laman—sila bilang nagtuturo ng preserbatibong kalakaran sa kamatayan ng kapitalismo, at ang necessary project na paslangin at paglamayan ang bangkay ng aktibismo at kilusan tumutiligsa sa mapanupil na kaayusan. At sa ganito, nagpaparami sila ng kauring pinakakapit sa kamatayan, mga liga ng zombie na disipulo ng naagnas na panahon, kahalagahan at ideolohiyang preserbatibo ng lahat ng masama at problema sa bansang ito.
Naalaala ko ang balitang gumagamit ng formalin sa mansanas para di lamang ito kumintab, para manatiling mukhang sariwa kahit naninilaw na ang loob. At sa Judeo-Kristianong paniniwala, ang mansanas ang prutas ng katotohanan. Kung ang katotohanan ay may shelf life lang naman, tulad ng isinasaad ng prutas (ang puno ang mas imahen ng mas matagalan na buhay at karunungan), bakit pinapalampas pa sa aktwal nitong buhay? Preserbatibo ng konserbatismo sa panlipunang pagbabago na gamit ang pambala ng ideolohikal na retorika ng mismong neoliberal na estado!
Maliit lamang ang unibersidad pero pakiwari ko ay sumisikip ito sa mga tao at administrador na tulad ng sa departamento. At least, ang mismong administrasyon ay lantarang ang paglalaway sa dagdag na kita sa pag-asikaso ng kabuhayan showcase para sa sarili nitong preserbasyon, kasama ang pinakamalaking balon ng kita mula sa matrikula ng mag-aaral. Ang kadepartamento ng kaguro ay mas patago ang pananaksak sa aktibismo kahit pa magkahalintulad ang proyekto ng panghihina nila rito.
Hindi nagkamali ang kulturang popular sa imahen ng zombie at vampira, ang nekropolitika ng kanilang literal na buhay kahit pa marami sa figura ay anti-kamatayan sa astang paniningil ng moral at historikal na katarungan para sa kanilang kauri. Mabuti pa ang literaryong vampira, hayok sa dugo ng mapanupil na buhay para mabuhay kada gabi. Mabuti pa ang zombie, kolektibong nanlulusob sa mga taong nagtatago sa mall para komentaryuhan ang konsumerismo at arbitrayong kapangyarihan ng may buhay.
Ang fantasya sa kadepartamento ng kaguro ay masasagi ko ang kamay o balikat ng mga ito. Mahuhulog na lamang, at siempre, tulad ng zombie, ay hindi mamamalayan ang pagkawala ng piraso kahit pa kumikilos ang mga daliri. Sasabihin ko sa kanila, “Excuse me, braso at kamay mo o, nakakalat. Pakitanggal naman, nakaharang sa daan.” O pwede ko ring itapon sa lagoon para manatiling mas karumaldumal ang karumaldumal nang patay. Tapos na ang undas at hindi pa nawawala ang bulak sa kanilang ilong.
Statement regarding Prof Sarah Raymundo
The University of the Philippines is an institution accountable to the Filipino people, not a clique accountable only to an exclusive membership.
The Department of Sociology’s decision not to grant tenure to Assistant Professor Sarah Raymundo therefore demands public explanation.
That Professor Raymundo is a competent teacher and researcher remains undisputed. That she met the department’s strict academic requirements and that she has the respect of her students and peers has not been challenged.
Absent alternative explanations, allegations that Ms Raymundo has been the victim of a political witch-hunt cannot but gain credence.
Denial of tenure based on one’s political beliefs instead of on one’s qualifications is not only a betrayal of the university’s ideals, it also weakens the university’s ability to perform its role of speaking truth to power.
UP being the people’s university, the public deserves to know why Professor Raymundo was deprived something which by all accounts she deserves. Should the reasons be unjustified, as is evident, the University should grant Professor Raymundo tenure.
Otherwise, the University turns into nothing more than a cabal whose members have turned their backs on those in whose name the university exists.
Herbert Docena
Research Associate, Focus on the Global South/
UP Alumnus (BS Economics 2001)
Dec. 12, 2008
Dr. Clemen Aquino
Chair, Department of Sociology
College of Social Sciences and Philosophy
University of the Philippines
Diliman, 1101 Quezon City
sociology@up.edu.ph
Dean Zosimo Lee
College of Social Sciences and Philosophy
dekano@kssp.upd.edu.ph
Chancellor Sergio Cao
University of the Philippines
Diliman, 1101 Quezon City
oc.upd@up.edu.ph
Dear Dr. Aquino, Dean Lee, and Chancellor Cao:
University researchers, scholars, and educators from the United States are registering our support for Professor Sarah Raymundo and strongly urging you to grant tenure. We are deeply saddened and profoundly disappointed by the decision of the Department of Sociology at the University of the Philippines in Diliman to deny Professor Raymundo tenure. This is an unjust and inappropriate decision, adversely affecting the promising career of a brilliant scholar and exceptional teaching on popular culture, social movements, and contemporary social theory. We respectfully write to request your reconsideration.
The Department of Sociology’s rejection of Professor Raymundo tenure cannot but have a chilling effect on promising scholars, graduate students, and undergraduate students who have a commitment to advancing the sub-fields of gender, migration, political sociology, and cultural studies. At a time when the Philippines and the world are facing worsening political, economic, and cultural crisis, Professor Raymundo’s intellectual expertise is all the more relevant and necessary.
Since her academic appointment at the University of the Philippines, Professor Raymundo has garnered professional praise for her scholarship, teaching, and service. The quality of her research is cutting-edge and impressive, and is recognized by academics internationally. Her scholarly publications and conference-presentation manuscripts have been widely circulated among sociologists and other scholars in the United States interested in examining the representation of gender and sexuality in movies, magazines, and other visual cultural media in the Philippine and global contexts. Professor Raymundo has been also active in studying and analyzing political cultures of violence, repression, and human rights violations in the Philippines, resulting, for instance, in the co-edited publication of Kontra-Gahum: Academics Against Political Killings (2006, IBON Publishing). This book is now part of the collection in several university libraries in the United States.
Professor Raymundo is also professionally active through university and community service. She has organized intellectually enriching colloquia and seminars of several U.S. scholars who visited the Diliman campus. Through these colloquia and seminars, she facilitated the development of greater dialogue and interactions among U.S. scholars and graduate and undergraduate students on campus. She has also provided strong mentorship to U.S. graduate and undergraduate students who were conducting field research in the Philippines or who were attending campus to get further language and research training.
It would be an unforgivable loss for the students and the communities served by the University of the Philippines if Professor Raymundo will not continue as a faculty member. As such, we request the University of the Philippines at Diliman and its Department of Sociology to explain the basis of the denial of tenure of Professor Raymundo and the irregular instruction of the Sociology chair for her not to teach her classes. We strongly request the reconsideration of the decision to deny her tenure and to acknowledge her exceptional teaching, scholarship, and service. We wish to see her continue serving in the UP Department of Sociology.
Sincerely,
Dr. Nerissa Balce
Assistant Professor
Department of Asian and Asian American Studies
State University of New York, Stony Brook
Dr. Rick Baldoz
Faculty, Department of Sociology
Advisor, Philippines Studies Center, Globalization Research Center
University of Hawai'i, Manoa
Dr. Jonathan Beller
Associate Professor in English and Humanities
and Critical and Visual Studies
Pratt Institute, New York City
Dr. Francisco Benitez
Assistant Professor
Comparative Literature
University of Washington
Dr. L.M. San Pablo Burns
Assistant Professor
Department of Asian American Studies
University of California, Los Angeles
Dr. Jeff Arellano Cabusao
Assistant Professor
Department of English and Cultural Studies
Bryant University, Smithfield, Rhode Island
Prof. Oscar V. Campomanes
Coordinator of Research
Department of English
Ateneo de Manila University
Dr. Richard T. Chu
Assistant Professor
History Department
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Dr. Peter Chua
Associate Professor of Sociology
San Jose State University
Dr. Dana Collins
Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology
California State University, Fullerton
Dr. Sharon Delmendo
Professor of English
St. John Fisher College, Rochester, NY
Luis H. Francia
Faculty
Asian/Pacific/American Studies
New York University
Valerie Francisco
Doctoral Student
Department of Sociology
The Graduate Center, City College of New York
Dr. Anne E. Lacsamana
Assistant Professor
Women's Studies Department
Hamilton College, Clinton, NY
Sharon Heijin Lee
Doctoral Student
Program in American Culture
University of Michigan
Dr. Dawn Bohulano Mabalon
Assistant Professor, Department of History
San Francisco State University
Board Member, Little Manila Foundation
National Trustee, Filipino American National Historical Society
Dr. Martin F. Manalansan IV
Associate Professor of Anthropology
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Dr. Ligaya L. McGovern
Associate Professor of Sociology
Indiana University
Sherwin Mendoza
Doctoral Student
Department of Literature
University of California, Santa Cruz
Carmen Mitchell, Graduate Student
African Diaspora Studies Doctoral Program
Designated Emphasis in Gender, Women & Sexuality
University of California, Berkeley
Claire Oliveros
Doctoral Student
Adult Education and Higher Education Leadership Department
Oregon State University
J. Lorenzo Perillo
Doctoral Student
Department of World Arts and Cultures
Asian American Studies Department
University of California, Los Angeles
Dr. Robyn Rodriquez
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Rutgers University
Dr. Sarita See
Associate Professor
Program in American Culture and English Department
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Dr. Leny Mendoza Strobel
Associate Professor
Department of American Multicultural Studies
Sonoma State University
Dr. Neferti Tadiar
Professor of Women’s Studies, Barnard College
Director, Center for Critical Analysis of Social Difference,
Columbia University
Prof. Rowena Tomaneng
Interim Dean
Language Arts Division
De Anza College, Cupertino, CA
Gina Velasco
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in the Humanities
Anthropology Department and Gender and Sexuality Studies Program
Bryn Mawr College
Michael Viola
Doctoral Student
Graduate School of Education and Information Studies
University of California, Los Angeles
PAROCHIALISM
I don't know the background of the issue and I don't care to know. Give credit where it is due. 'Activists' are a dime a dozen in that department. In fact, the 'elders' are still there. So how come they undermine the activism of Sarah and make an issue out of it? Tsk-tsk, I think parochialism is working again. Plain and simple. No wonder the university is regressing. UP should stand for University of Parochialism! Ang Galing-galing Mo!
Ernesto V. Enrique
Mean Girls
Professor Sarah Raymundo, an upstanding member of the Department of Sociology, was denied tenure after a year-long drag of closed-door meetings. Professor Raymundo is perfectly qualified for a tenured position in the department. She has almost ten years of teaching experience, completed her Master’s Degree in Sociology within the given time, and has numerous published articles in refereed journals and publications exceeding the minimum requirement for tenure. According to the rules on granting tenure, this should have been a no-brainer. What gives?
Reportedly, the department of Sociology simply closed its ranks like a bunch of cliqueish high-school-movie bimbos after failing to provide anything but piddling whines about not having been invited to a forum. Furthermore, there are allegations that the grounds for denial cited during their meetings are of the lowest order of cheap: that Professor Raymundo invited the parents of Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno to the Department Christmas party as her guests only to abandon them in order to join the anti-TFI rally that December, that she became a suspect in the theft of a laptop simply because she did not share the owner’s hysteria, or that she was insensitive for asking the owner if they had already purchased a new one.
Is any of this valid? Are these really the bases with which they denied tenure to someone who, by the rules, should be judged solely on academic grounds? Is it really just because they don’t like her? Or are these pathetic jabs the smokescreen of a juvenile cynic who is basically terrified by real political engagement? If not, what then are the grounds on which Professor Raymundo was denied tenure? Why this silence that stinks of “privileged information”? Does someone need to get hit by a bus before this is resolved?
This is no way to behave. But, then again, as Kant wrote in one of his shorter works, “It is so easy not to be of age”.
Antares Gomez b.
BFA Art History
Department of Theory
College of Fine Arts
SA AKADEMYA
(Para kay Sarah Raymundo, red-baiting survivor)
Nagmumulto si Senador McCarthy.
Gumagala-gala ang kanyang espiritu
sa mga pasilyo ng akademya.
Nalalanghap ng lahat
ang masangsang na bulaklak
ng tsampaka,
Naririnig ang kalansing
ng tanikalang nagbibigay babala:
Manginig, manginig!
Damhin ang malamig
na simoy ng hangin
na bumubulong-bulong
ng pangamba sa diwa
ng mga guro.
Nagmumulto si Senador McCarthy
at nagwiwika:
May pulahan sa ating pagitan!
Ang pula ay kulay na mapanganib!
Naghahasik ito ng punla,
naghihikayat ng pagkilos at paglaban,
Nagbabandila ng katwiran.
Mga kapatid sa akademya,
ang natatakot sa pula,
ay taong kaawa-awa,
pagkat walang sariling pag-iisip,
pagkat sakmal ng multo ang dibdib.
Hayaan na nating malibing sa kanyang hukay
si Senador McCarthy.
Ating angkinin ang kulay na pula
bilang kulay ng duguang rosas
na mahalimuyak,
kulay ng kasiyahan at galak,
kulay ng pusong matapang,
at pusong matatag.
Joi Barrios, CONTEND
Teacher Sarah! Si Chu 'to! ang joggin buddies nina vlad at kat, na hindi makatakbo ng tatlong rounds sa acad oval. i support you all the way!!! sana mabigyan ka ng hustisya!
Post a Comment