The official tally of the CRSRS referendum (derived from http://collegiannews.multiply.com)
This April, incumbent UP Student Regent (SR) Shahana Abdulwahid will finish her undergraduate studies. After four years of dealing with her academics and more than a year of service as the UP student body�s representative, she will have to leave the university and therefore pass on her responsibilities as a student regent to the next one. And after the ratification of the existing Codified Rules for Student Regent Selection (CRSRS) through a systemwide referendum conducted recently which paved the way for the selection of a new student regent, the question that now follows is �who will now be the next Student Regent?� What The Provisions Say The new UP Charter (Republic Act no. 9500) states that there must be �One Student Regent, to serve for a term of one (1) year, chosen by the students from their ranks in accordance with rules and qualifications approved in a referendum by the students� (Section 12, Paragraph 1g). In line with this, the Office of the Student Regent (OSR) conducted a systemwide referendum last January 26-31 which asked UP students the question, answerable by a �yes� or �no�, worded as �Do you approve of the existing Codified Rules for Student Regent Selection (CRSRS) as rules and qualifications to govern the selection of our student representative to the UP Board of Regents?� The CRSRS contains the process by which the selection is conducted and the qualifications of who can be nominated for the SR position. According to the existing CRSRS, college and university student councils can nominate students for SR, and the nominees will be presented and evaluated in the General Assembly of Student Councils (GASC), attended by all UP student councils, both college and university-based. The GASC will then select the Student Regent who will be serving for a one-year term. Also stated are the qualifications for SR nominees which include being a Filipino student currently enrolled in the university at the time of nomination who has an accumulated residency of at least one year including periods of residency and/or leave of absence and has a track record reflective of his/her commitment to serve the studentry may be nominated for SR. Voice of The Students In the said referendum, almost 55% or 26,118 of the total 47,365 number of students in the whole UP system participated with 73% or 19,068 voters approving the retention of the current CRSRS. On the other hand, 6,747 or 26% of the voters voted �no�.
�Isang kolektibong tagumpay ang naganap na referendum. Muling pinatunayan ng mga estudyante na hindi sila apathetic at handa nilang proteksyunan ang mga institusyong sila rin ang nagtaguyod (The referendum was a collective success. The students proved once again that they are not apathetic and that they are ready to protect the institutions that they built),� said Abdulwahid in an interview with the Philippine Collegian. According to the Office of the Student Regent, they will release a memorandum in the next two weeks to announce the start of the nomination for the new student regent. Sole Representative The Student Regent is the sole representative of the whole student body of UP to the Board of Regents (BOR), which is the highest policy-making body of the university. The SR participates in debates on university-wide policies and defends students� rights and welfare in various issues affecting us such as tuition increases and curriculum reforms. Though it may still take two months before the UP student body will have its new student regent, Abdulwahid reassures her fellow Isko and Iska that she will remain as their representative the BOR still assume the responsibility of the community�s student regent until a new one was voted.
