UP students protest increasing commercialization of campus spaces
Students of the University of the Philippines - Diliman in Quezon City are opposing the “commercialization” of spaces on campus, which they believe runs counter to the university’s orientation as an institution of learning for the needy.
During a rally on campus on Tuesday, dozens of students protested plans to close stalls to make way for the opening of the DiliMall by March.
Formerly the UP Shopping Center, the Dilimall is expected to cater to high-end establishments and businesses headed by major companies.
The UP Diliman Student Council (UPD-SC) said Area 2 and the stalls in the old tennis court had been informed that they would be closed this month to make way for the opening of DiliMall.
In a manifesto of unity, the UPDSC scored the supposed prioritization of profits over pressing matters on campus such as safe and inclusive spaces amid the alleged increased presence of state forces, the looming loss of livelihood among jeepney drivers due to the jeepney phaseout, unfair labor practices and the economic crisis.
“The commercialization of spaces in the university is evidenced by how its own community members become secondary to the interest of profit, wherein commercial establishments that have no place within our campus would occupy the first floor of the mall. This commercial pursuit jeopardizes the academic orientation of the university as a public learning institution built for the indigent public,” the manifesto read.
“The prioritization of profit over academic development is observed with how students still lack safe and inclusive spaces within campus. Rooms available for student functions in the Student Union Building remain limited, while the co-ownership of Lorena Barros Hall by students and the usage of rooms in Vinzons Hall is in limbo. More importantly, with the UP-DND Accord gone, police sightings on campus have become prevalent, putting the safety of students and their practice of academic freedom at risk,” it added.
The students said they would continue fighting for the livelihood and spaces of both drivers, vendors and students, now that the university has started to redefine itself “as the University of Profit.”
“United, we call against the rampant commercialization of the university. It is a challenge for the University of the Philippines to uphold its mandate to militantly join in the struggle of the masses and become the University of the People,” they added.