Built to last

On December 2, 2010, DLSU formally started the construction of the Henry Sy Sr. Hall, now referred to as the Centennial Building.

The building is the centerpiece of the University’s Centennial Renewal Plan, a long-term project that will construct, or rather, renovate the different academic facilities in campus.

Moreover, the building will address the perennial problem of congestion in the University. It will also increase the amount of space for study, organizational activities and offices.

Its completion on December 2012 may serve as the solution to many of the University’s problems.

In other words, the building, with its state of the art technology and avant-garde, eco-friendly design, will send the message that DLSU is taking serious steps to becoming world class.

During the course of last year, DLSU has had many accomplishments. The University has found a solution to the lack of funding, primarily via endowments. Research, which the University should be known for, has also been given focus through many research-centered proposals and initiatives. Salaries for professors have increased, and rice and clothing allowances have just been implemented for them to enjoy.

Moreover, in an effort to achieve a higher accreditation, the University has implemented the Expected Lasallian Graduate Attributes (ELGA).

Certainly, the University is moving forward, but towards which direction?

The Centennial Building, for instance, has enraged many alumni, who would have preferred a field rather than rushed building that should have 15, but now has 14 floors.

And while the University will boast numerous innovations via the Centennial Building, much of the equipment in the St. La Salle and Don Enrique T. Yuchengco halls is not working properly.

Some members of the academe have similar sentiments, and more, even losing the motivation to continue serving the University, perhaps because of the complicated promotion process. This has probably affected our already deteriorating QS World University Rankings.

To add, there is the ELGA, an initiative meant to create our “ideal” Lasallians, imposing an unrealistic expectation on our professors. In a manner of speaking, the initiative is trying to mass-produce and evaluate Lasallian graduate attributes in class, whereas in truth, the results of any such initiative would show not during the course duration, but only when our graduates get out of the University and actually succeed.

Despite all this, DLSU deserves to celebrate a hundred more years of existence.

This end, after all, is just the beginning.