~~MANILA STANDARD~~

Students fight to keep Mapua name

(FEB. 14, 2005)

By Ivann Yazon

Officials of the Mapua Institute of Technology in Intramuros, Manila were confronted by a sea of black yesterday when 11,000 alumni and students protested the new owners’ decision to change the name of the school.

“We are Mapuans, not Malayans,” the students shouted. Clad in black shirts, they had marched to the school to decry the school board’s decision to change the name it had held for 80 years (Mapua Institute of Technology) to Malayan Colleges.

The decision to change the name was announced during a dialogue last Feb. 10 between students and the school’s president, Dr. Reynaldo Vea, in line with plans to elevate the institute to a university. But while it is waiting to be eligible, the collection of colleges is to be called Malayan Colleges.

The Commission on Higher Education has just approved the new corporate name. “We hope Malayan will eventually become synonymous with quality education in general,” said Vea in a statement posted at Mapua’s official Web site.

No consultations

Armando Cristobal, spokesperson of United Mapuans students’ alliance, said:

“It is unfair to all of the students and parents and faculty because there were no consultations made. We are requesting the board of trustees to bring back the name of Mapua Institute of Technology because this is the legacy of Mang Tomas (Don Tomas Mapua) to us. We don’t want to be named after Yuchengco’s insurance company in Makati. We enrolled as Mapuans, therefore we should graduate as Mapuans, not Malayans!”

An instructor who refused to be identified told Manila Standard: “Most of us (faculty) support and sympathize with the students. But we cannot join them since we signed a preemployment agreement that prohibits us from joining students’ activities that are ‘antiadministration.’”

Though majority of the students “volunteered” to attend the protest which also toured neighboring schools Lyceum of the Philippines, Colegio de San Juan de Letran and Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, some refused to join.

Luis Lazardo, a partial scholar, said: “Some of our professors texted us that we will be having a (surprise) quiz and graded recitation. Some told us to ‘join the rally’ at your own risk, so I just decided to attend my classes.”

While the rally was going on outside, the faculty and administrators held an emergency meeting.

“We’re giving them an ultimatum until Thursday. We just hope that their decision will be favorable to us,” said Cristobal, editor in chief of Mapua’s school paper, The New Builder.

Attempts to interview Dr. Vea and other faculty members were thwarted by security personnel.

Mapua Institute of Technology was founded on Jan. 25, 1925 by Don Tomas Mapua, an architecture graduate of Cornell University in the United States. He was the first registered Filipino architect who envisioned an educational institution that would “emphasize the importance of science and technology and create an impact on the economy and the quality of life of the Filipino.”

Initially a night school, it started with 80 students enrolled in civil engineering and architecture.