I HAVE no problem when a university, and not only the University of the Philippines (UP), strictly adheres to academic standards of excellence, and expects its students and faculty to uphold those standards before they graduate or get promoted and tenured. The beauty of a university rests on its tolerance of voices not only of dissent, but also of those that are unpopular. This is so unscientific for a university that houses centers of excellence for many scientific endeavors. This conservative stance would make UP abandon its responsibility to foster critical debate on contentious issues, which is a trademark of an excellent secular university. It renders human decency as already a fixed and absolute construct which can secure for us a warrant to pass judgment on human conduct.

Source: Manila Times April 21, 2017 17:14 UTC