10/07/2025
After a publication-wide consultation with our staff members and voting among the members of the Editorial Board, Today’s Carolinian is AGAINST the Supreme Student Council’s (SSC) pending registration under the Office of Student Formation & Activities (OSFA).
Today’s Carolinian, as a fellow university-wide institution mandated by the 2001 SSC Constitution, is born from the collective struggle and its recognition from the student body since its revival. The public clamor for our support over the years has given us our lifeline amidst defundment, and it has taken us to important dialogues earlier this year following the nation-wide protests regarding the loss of our offices. The Council came to exist in that same vein, and we believe that their legitimacy should not depend on whether they will be registering under OSFA or not.
Since their first unregistered term in the Academic Year 2023-2024 under former President Hans Noel Balila, we have witnessed OSFA’s attempts at disenfranchising the SSC. It has gotten to the point wherein we can say that the SSC is backed to a corner not just by the said office, but even by their own constituents. The student organizations and councils are strongly affirmative with the SSC’s registration due to the added pressure and workload by OSFA as the second highest registered student representatives, alongside the access to funding, physical spaces, and other services. This is a clear manifestation of the Administration’s attempt to divide the student body and to undermine student democracy.
The SSC’s authority has never been determined by the Administration; they are democratically elected by the students to represent their best interest. Thus, the SSC is our legitimate student representation, and that is a right that they can never take away from the studentry.
However, we cannot disregard that a portion of the studentry does not feel represented by the SSC, and that has especially manifested in the number of candidacy withdrawals and the low voter turnout in the recent SSC Elections. This outcome cannot be solely blamed on the Council, and we believe that it is time for us to look at the factors that make this a persisting issue. How does the student body contribute to their lack of visibility? What mechanisms do OSFA and the Administration employ to dwindle their presence within the University even further?
Regardless of what the outcome will be, one of the best ways that the students can help the SSC is by coming together and holding OSFA – and the Administration, by extension – accountable. TC has witnessed and received anecdotes from several Carolinians that shared their concerns and grievances regarding the registration, which shows that accrediting under the office is not something that just concerns the Council. It is a systemic issue that will take more than debates, consultations, and voting periods to dissect.
An accreditation process is meant to be a centralization of organizations as a united community, but OSFA has weaponized it as a means to repress student expression. We must not be silent and complacent to an office that takes advantage of its position of power — we must call for the restructuring of the office that is supposedly built upon transparency and accountability.
For all SOs and institutions to hold OSFA accountable, TC calls to publicize the Student Organization Manual. The processes of regulating student organizations must be in written record to prevent further instances of arbitrary policies and stipulations. We also demand that the stipulation of SOs not being allowed to be “political” must be removed from the University Student Manual (USM), as we believe that all SOs and existing institutions within USC should not have their political participation hindered, especially in a global sociopolitical climate wherein people are forced to censor themselves for the sake of self-preservation.
Whichever decision the Supreme Student Council makes, it must be one that unites the student body in the agreement that OSFA is an office that deserves to be held accountable. If the Council pushes through with registration, the creation of the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) must be done with full transparency from its drafting to the signing of the document. With this, it is our collective responsibility to hold the line and ensure that the MoA is respected by both the SSC and the Administration.
In light of recent developments as of writing, we call for the SSC to unite and form tangible initiatives to regain the trust of the student body. This has been a topic of discussion for years, and we believe that the center of the discourse should not be on whether we are for or against registration, as the nuances of the issue get watered down in the process. We believe that it is time for the Council to focus more on assessing other ways in how they can continue to serve the student body, regardless of their status in the said office.
Read joint statement by the USC Carolinian Political Science Society with the Collegiate Councils of the SAS, SCHP, SOE, SBE and SED: https://www.facebook.com/TheOfficialCPSS/posts/1155452446392021
Read the Supreme Student Council’s official post on open talks for a MoA with OSFA: https://www.facebook.com/USCSupremeStudentCouncil/posts/1036849981984646
View the SSC’s OSFA Registration voting timeline: https://www.facebook.com/USCSupremeStudentCouncil/posts/1036082648728046
Read Kabataan Partylist - USC’s statement: https://www.facebook.com/KabataanUSC/posts/1038849585097504
Read Gabriela Youth - USC’s statement: https://www.facebook.com/GabrielaYouthUSC/posts/1149685110540918
Read the Carolinian Sociological Anthropological Society’s statement: https://www.facebook.com/uscCARSAS/posts/1148663690627705
Read about previous grievances with OSFA’s registration process: https://www.facebook.com/todayscarolinian/posts/740868414717042
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Statement by TC Editorial Board & Staff
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