LA opens discussion on grievance, Students’ Charter

The Legislative Assembly (LA) of the University Student Government (USG) held a special session today, August 7, where the floor discussed the revision of the grievance process and the inclusion of the revised Students’ Charter as part of the Student Handbook Revisions (SHBR).

Changes to the grievance process

The main change included for the grievance process is the creation of a new office that shall be temporarily named University Ombudsman. The office would be the neutral party to have the responsibility of mediating between students and faculty members. The said office will ensure the proper facilitation of the Grievance process where it shall deal with the paperwork involved and the scheduling of meetings. However, it cannot enforce sanctions.

It was agreed upon that the grievance board will include the following: the Vice-Dean of the College to which the faculty belongs as the Chair of the Board; Senior Faculty Member of the Department to which the faculty belongs; the President of the USG (for complaints involving undergraduate students), or the Convener of the Graduate Student Council (for complaints involving Graduate Students); the College President of the college for DLSU-Manila, or Campus President for DLSU-STC to which the student complainant belongs; and a Faculty Association representative.

Queries regarding grievance cases regarding Civic Welfare Training Program and Reserve Officer Training Corps were clarified to be under the jurisdiction of the Dean of Student Affairs.

The proposal was unanimously approved with thirteen LA representatives voting affirmative.

Inclusion of the Students’ Charter in the handbook

The proposal centers on the LA’s initiative to include the Students’ Charter in the Student Handbook during the SHBR. The Students’ Charter is a document which details and enforces the rights of students of the University. This proposal aims to amend the Students’ Charter found in the 2012-2015 Student Handbook. The resolution was approved with thirteen LA representatives voting for and two abstaining.

The LA will meet again tomorrow at 2:40 p.m. during their weekly session, with the venue still to be announced.