By any other name

One: You are not your failures. Two: You are not your awards. Three: You are more than your name.
A friend had whispered this in my ear nearly three years ago, and it has stayed with me ever since. I have turned her words over and over in my head so much that I started applying them to other people and institutions. These words were what preoccupied me during a family dinner a few weeks ago, when my relatives began discussing universities in Manila and which ones they should send their kids to.

With three of her children enrolled in DLSU, my mother was quick to mention La Salle, as well as the long list of our school’s achievements. She elaborated on our notable alumni, our CHED accreditation status and our QS world ranking, among other things. But most of all, she insisted, the reason she was confident about sending me and my siblings to DLSU was because the University has an excellent name.

So I started wondering, what’s in a name? It’s what is written in front of all our school buildings, what is brought honor to when Lasallians win competitions here and abroad. It is also what was said to be sullied when just a few weeks ago, a certain Facebook page dedicated to spilling Lasallian secrets had started raising more than a few eyebrows. Moreover, the school’s name is the handle by which we are known to those who do not attend the University nor work in it. I’ve also been told that it is the brand that we carry when we submit resumes to future employers.

Before entering La Salle, my idea of the University was formed almost entirely on this basis. In the eight academic terms since then however, I have gotten to know a little more about our school aside from its name and reputation.

For instance, my parents can sleep sound at night knowing they are sending me to an excellent school while I fret over the fact that some professors I have had rarely ever bothered to attend class or had even abused their power over students. I worry over the fact that the structures supposedly present for students to bring these issues to light are not known for their success rates.

We pride ourselves over transformative education but I find that despite having been taught by my share of excellent professors, I have also heard about transformative learning more than I have experienced it, not in the least I think, for a lack of trying.

We have put a lot of emphasis on capital development, but with an array of shiny new buildings both finished and underway in Manila and STC, we have let old classrooms and equipment grow neglected and dilapidated, and placed even less emphasis on faculty and student development.

(I couldn’t elaborate on all these things while sitting around a nice dinner table with my family, but it was something to think about while I chewed my food.)

So again, what’s in a name? A lot, apparently, but I suppose we have to find the line between marketing and honest self-evaluation.
The thing is, DLSU cannot hope to send its graduates out into the world with sheer force of branding. While reputation does have important real world impact on universities, it is important to focus primarily on what St. La Salle had established schools for, and why this institution even exists. Seeing the University and the education it offers for what they really are and using that as basis for improvement seem more towards the spirit of our mission-vision of being a leading learner-centered university than any amount of hand-waving.

So if we are neither our failures nor our awards, and are more than our name, then what is DLSU? When you strip away the walls that separate us from outside scrutiny, the stringent security measures and the excellent reputation we have so carefully built up, I hope that Lasallian education does not crumble in the absence of a nice brand to tether itself to.

I’ve noticed that there is so much concern over world-class branding that we forget, sometimes, what it means to give world-class education to students who come to the University for that very purpose. It is easy to get caught up in the pursuit of signifiers of excellence that we lose track of achieving excellence itself, regardless of the recognition that we may or may not obtain for it.

Excellence is a habit, not a label. It comes from within and may, in time, be recognized, but it should never be the other way around.
World-class status without due emphasis on providing world-class education, producing world-class graduates or embodying world-class values might not be that world-class at all. Moreover, excellence present on paper but absent in practice – in the everyday lives of all community stakeholders – may not be a brand of excellence worth having.