Dec. 12, 2008
Dr. Clemen Aquino
Chair, Department of Sociology
College of Social Sciences and Philosophy
University of the Philippines
Diliman, 1101 Quezon City
Dean Zosimo Lee
College of Social Sciences and Philosophy
Chancellor Sergio Cao
University of the Philippines
Diliman, 1101 Quezon City
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
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
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