In 1975, the year De La Salle College became De La Salle University, I was just a recent graduate from an AB Literature course, another alumnus of roughly a thousand students on the Taft Campus. We had just accepted the “Primas” (as they would eventually be called) two years before, the first batch of 38 extremely brave female undergraduates. We were reigning champions in senior’s basketball, the late great Lim Eng Beng having led the team that defeated the Ateneo Blue Eagles pretty comprehensively in the 1974 Finals, securing our sixth NCAA title.
Back then, the campus was residential. William Hall, the six floors of it, was originally constructed as a formation house of the La Salle Brothers, with extra rooms, I remember, for boarders; on the seventh floor was our library. Only later would they renovate the building to house departments from the College of Science and Liberal Arts. We shared St. La Salle Hall with the grade schoolers (the so-called “Last Boys” would graduate in 1984). I’m no longer sure whether students from this generation will have heard of the infamous Bench Boys, but whatever rumors about them have persisted, well, let’s just say there’s a reason they have.
Yuchengco Hall will turn 25 next year. It stands on hallowed ground. For decades, Athanasius Gym, with its high wooden bleachers concealing the bookstore, clinic, and showers, was where students first heard the opening notes to “Hail, Hail, Alma Mater…” and likely where they first sung it together and felt its rousing power. The song itself is more recent than you might think; it goes back to 1961, when Br. Stephen Malachy FSC played it on a harmonica during a break in class. To the editors and staff, think about it: The LaSallian is a year older than the Alma Mater Hymn. That’s some responsibility to bear honorably.
Speaking of buildings, many of those halls and rooms today have been named after campus figures who were larger than life, even back then. Br. Andrew Gonzalez FSC was Academic Vice-President at the time, a quite fraught position to occupy, as we were in the dark (and still darkening) days of Martial Law. Ariston J. Estrada, Sr. (after whom the Campus Journalism Award is named) had retired a couple of years before, and DLSC conferred upon him a doctorate degree honoris causa to acclaim his 38 years of exemplary teaching.
Among my college professors, those who left the deepest impressions were Salvador Roxas Gonzales (Mathematics), and Emerita Quito, by many accounts the greatest Filipino philosopher. At the time, no one else was teaching Asian philosophy, so every class with Dr. Quito was an experience that shook one’s intellectual foundations and opened mental windows at the same time. It’s a gift of the great teachers that even their throwaway remarks can stay with you for decades. In my case, it was when she lamented, “People these days keep talking about the so-called lesser evil. I don’t accept this: evil is evil.”
I’m grateful for the invitation from the editors to share memories through this guest column. It’s been over 50 years since I wrote anything for The LaSallian; and in any case, I remember only one or two pieces as a student contributor. As it happens, I have had plenty of opportunities recently to recollect the years and thank Our Lord for His boundless grace and providence: last year, I celebrated a personal Golden Jubilee as a De La Salle Brother, and this year we collectively celebrate 50 years as a University.
Br. H. Gabriel Connon FSC was President the year De La Salle College became De La Salle University. On this, our Jubilee year, I charge us all with his words: “We can all have a certain sense of pride and satisfaction that our institution ranks not only in fact but now also in name, as an institution of higher education. Now, more than ever, we must perform as an educational institution of quality, a university of excellence…Now that we are called De La Salle University, one of our top priorities is to stay a school of quality.”
Happy anniversaries to us all. Live Jesus in our hearts, forever!
EDITOR’S NOTE:
This is an unedited submission from a former staffer of The LaSallian, reflecting on the significant milestones that shaped the University. The article also discusses the publication’s role in contributing to an educational institution that prioritizes excellence.
Br. Bernard S. Oca FSC served as a Features, now Menagerie, staffer of The LaSallian.
He graduated from De La Salle University with a degree in Literature, where he also earned his Master of Arts in Language and Literature and Doctor of Education in Religious and Values Education.
He went on to become a distinguished leader, educator, and a De La Salle Brother.
He is currently the 24th president of De La Salle University, a leading higher education institution in the Philippines, and part of the global Lasallian network composed of more than 60 higher education institutions spread all over the world. He also serves as the president of the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU).
