The campus held its chancellorship public forum and consultation at the Jose D. Aspiras Hall last May 05, 2021 with three candidates: Dr. Nona Mayrena Rivera, the current Officer-in-Charge in the office of the SLUC Chancellor; Dr. Joanne Camus Rivera, the Executive Director of the Open University System; and Dr. Isidro Laron Duran, Officer-in-charge in the office of the Dean of the College of Graduates.

Each of the candidates was given an opportunity to highlight their accomplishments as well as their platforms. The first to deliver the speech was Dr. Joanne Camus Rivera in which she emphasized the value of accountability through the restoration of trust within the system, the practice of transparency, re-orientation of the people’s functions, and the need to be aware of university policies. Afterwards, Dr. Nona Mayrena Rivera presented her different Cs in order to help the campus emerge from the pandemic better, wiser, and stronger. She highlighted her vision of cultivating a culture of harmonious relationships among the faculty and staff and a healthy campus life. Finally, Dr. Isidro Laron Duran presented a diagram, visualizing the campus as a tree with varying parts which embody the different entities of the campus. He centralized his ideas on the importance of individual participation in order for the desired quality objectives of the campus to come into fruition.

After the speeches of the candidates, they were asked to pick a random question. In response to the question ‘what is the essence of being a chancellor’, Dr. Joanne Rivera stated, “If you’re going to ask me ‘yung essence of being a chancellor, my answer would be in the context of motherhood, that would be it. If you’re a mother you need to protect your children and you need to improve also their talents, their abilities; you have to encourage them to talk to you as a mother because they too have something to say”.

Dr. Nona Rivera, on the other hand, picked the question, “Just in case, we will receive PBB [Performance-Based Bonus], are you in favour of equal sharing? No better or no best”. In reply to this, she said “I believe in equal sharing [of] the PBB, no better or no best, because in the South La Union Campus we work together as a team, we work in unity. So equal sharing should be taken into consideration in here because everyone is contributing to the success of the campus [and] to the success of the university.”

The last question “How would you address the student concerns regarding the current education system?” was picked by Dr. Isidro Duran in which he answered, “I think we could apply in here, as I’ve said in my presentation, one of the parameters is to have a common platform when it comes to [the] delivering of instruction for both faculty and students… Kailangan po nating iimprove yung system. ”

After, the faculty members and staff of SLUC accomplished the acceptability survey for the three aspiring chancellors by giving an acceptability rating wherein 3 is the highest and 1 is the lowest. The program was hosted by Ms. Abelynn T. Llarenas and was facilitated by the Faculty Association and the Non-Teaching Association of the campus.

Article | Elmer Jay Ortaliza and Jenfrey Benafin
Photos | Nathanael Alexis Milanes and John Dovi Gonzales