Starting next term, student consultants will now be part of the Judiciary Branch of the University Student Government (USG). The judiciary branch will appoint student consultants to provide assistance to students with grievance cases and discipline cases.
Alexyss Alip, chief magistrate of the USG’s Judiciary branch, cautiously points out that the assistance provided by student consultants “is not representation, but more on helping students [to be more informed] on the processes involved in grievance cases and discipline cases.”
Aside from providing assistance during grivance cases and discipline cases, the student consultants will also act as peer counselors for students undergoing such cases.
In contrast with student representatives present during discipline cases and grievance cases, student consultants are not members of the Discipline Board or are affiliated with the Student Discipline Formation Office (SDFO); they do not have the power to vote on a verdict and sanction in a certain disciplinary case.
In terms of recruitment, according to Alip, “We have yet to determine who selects the student consultants. The soonest this would be enacted would most likely be third term. At the latest, it might be next [academic] year.”
The SDFO agreed to help in the recruitment of future consultants, while the Judiciary is in charge of training the students.
The Judiciary has three sub-units, the Judicial Administrative Affairs Office (JAAO), the Counsel Officers Committee (COC) and the student consultants. Unlike the JAAO and the COC, the student consultant is a relatively new sub-unit.
The Judiciary also have two independent constitutional commissions under the branch. These are the Commission on Elections and Commission on Audit.
