Situated at the ground floor of St. Joseph Hall is the Student Discipline Formation Office (SDFO), which maintains student discipline and promotes proper student decorum. Headed by its director, Michael Millanes, the office aims to instill the values of responsibility and vigilance in students through the implementation of the Student Handbook provisions. It also serves as an avenue to air out grievances related to student infractions.
SDFO is divided into three sections: the Discipline Education, Advocacy, and Programs Section (DEAPS); the Discipline Enforcement Section; and the Lost and Found Section (LFS). In all, 26 officers, including Millanes, carry out the office’s mandate of ensuring that handbook policies are followed.
Student assistants
Apart from the officers in its employ, SDFO also manages a support staff program known as the SDFO Paragon Program (Paragon). Students willing to lend a hand can volunteer to join the program and assist the office in various functions, such as providing lectures on University policies and facilitating student inquiries.
Paragon President Mary Sy (IV, IBS) shares that one of the organization’s goals is to “become the bridge between students and Disciplinary Officers (DO),” stating that they want to break the stigma of DOs just being there to look for people to apprehend.
Regarding the future plans of her organization, she adds that Paragon wants to make sure that the Lasallian community is fully aware of the SDFO and what they aim to do. Hoping to gain more volunteers during their upcoming recruitment week in March, she presses that students should not be afraid to open up to the office. Rather, as she explains, “Through the Paragon program, we are able to show that the SDFO and the students can work together for the betterment of the whole student body.”
Raising awareness
The best way to implement the rules is to ensure students are aware of them, and that the office employs multiple methods to reach out to the community. A quick stroll through campus reveals various posters put up along St. Joseph Hall and Miguel Walk, highlighting and explaining different handbook rules. Apart from this, the office regularly sends out emails to students and disseminates posts on its Facebook page to refresh students on the policies.
The DOs themselves also play an active role in enforcing rules through “visibility walks,” wherein they stroll around the campus and observe those who do not adhere to the Student Handbook policies.
“They only remind them (the students), but they do not get apprehended right away because the DOs want to give an opportunity [for] everyone to follow the policies,” clarifies Sy.
In the end, however, the responsibility of being aware of the rules falls on the students. Diana Layag, the Programs Coordinator for SDFO, stresses that with any organization one enters, it is the responsibility of the entrant to adjust to its rules and regulations.
After all, students have been briefed on their responsibilities as early as the Lasallian Personal Effectiveness Program where the office conducts orientations for the incoming freshmen. “You also [submit] the Student Handbook acknowledgement slip, which states that you should be reading, and you should have read the handbook,” Layag adds.
Other services
Aside from enforcing student discipline within campus premises, the SDFO is also in charge of the LFS, whose office is also found at the ground floor of St. Joseph Hall. There, members of the Lasallian community can turn over lost items for their respective owners to hopefully recover.
The office also conducts activities such as the SDFO Clean-Up Drive, in partnership with the University Security Office and the Building and Grounds Maintenance Office. The project is an ongoing initiative to promote cleanliness inside the University, while simultaneously ensuring that students’ personal belongings do not go unattended.
DEAPS, the section responsible for raising awareness of a variety of advocacies SDFO tries to uphold, conducts lectures not only for students, but also for parents and University personnel. Among its programs is the Formation Program on Restructuring and Managing the Self, which helps participants improve their skills in self-management and self-regulation.
Setting things straight
Both Sy and Layag debunk one of the most common misconceptions students have of SDFO—that the office tasked with enforcing handbook policy is also tasked with formulating them. In truth, Layag explains that this function is instead in the hands of the Student Handbook Revisions Committee (SHRC), which comprises of representatives from the University Student Government, University administrators, faculty, and other representatives from different sectors within DLSU.
Sy adds that the SHRC revises the handbook every three years, with the SDFO only ensuring that these changes are enforced within the campus. “The SDFO sits there as a resource person, just in case may mga concerns sila regarding ‘kamusta yung ganitong policy’…So basically, SDFO implements what [the SHRC] approves,” she says.
Another common misconception students have of the office is that its officers are strict and unapproachable, a point that Sy refutes. “The DOs are not to be scared of because they are really nice and accommodating to everyone who has any concerns,” she argues.
On the other hand, she also raises the concern of the SDFO receiving little to no feedback from the student body, making the office uninformed of the trends and happenings within the campus. If students do feel the need to raise their concerns, she explains that one way for them to do so would be by properly addressing the issue in a mannerly order, with “both sides [having an] equal amount of respect for each other.”
Layag, sharing similar remarks with Sy, welcomes students to the SDFO, affirming, “We would want to be approached. We would appreciate if you could tell us how we are doing in our service to you, because at the end of the day, we are for the students; we are not against the students.”
