UP student orgs face reckoning, probe over 'inappropriate' practices

MANILA, Philippines — The University of the Philippines Diliman has launched a probe into the internal activities of its student organizations after social media posts of multiple organizations’ lists of humiliating tasks for its members went viral.

In a statement, UP Diliman’s Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs (OVCSA) said that it is already looking into possible violations committed by student organizations that conduct activities "that run counter to the values of the university."

UP students are facing a collective reckoning over what current and former organization members have described as a hazing-like culture within their formations, characterized by application processes and events where they are pressured to degrade themselves.

There is no formal documentation of the practice of imposing humiliating tasks on members of UP organizations. But a leaked list of tasks expected of UP Junior Marketing Association (JMA) members joining its annual “committee wars” sent social media users into an uproar this week over the years-long open secret in the university.

An X (Twitter) user shared on Monday screenshots from a Reddit forum showing the “dares” that the UP JMA reportedly asks of its members as part of its internal contest. 

The list of tasks, which the UP JMA confirmed in a statement as its “previous iterations of (its) internal committee wars dares,” asked members to record themselves "grabbing (the) boobs" of a female relative, "reaching an orgasm," “doing a striptease act for two minutes,” among others.

In a statement, the UP JMA explained that the “dares” it expected of its members in its annual competition among organization committees were not compulsory and that “consent is given at every level.”  

“In hindsight, we understand the harmful dynamics present in releasing dares in an organizational environment that values competition. We understand that the very act of releasing the list of dares as part of the competition encourages their participation,” the UP JMA said.

Similar to UP JMA, the internal activities of the UP Economic Society (UP Ecosoc) also went viral on social media. Screencaps uploaded by an anonymous X user show that its members joining a “scavenger hunt” were expected to take a video of their pubic hair and of themselves making sexual noises, among others.

UP Ecosoc has since responded to the viral posts with a statement saying that they have decided to discontinue its “scavenger hunt.”

“The organization extends its sincerest apologies for the distress that these may have caused our members and stakeholders and for causing any reason for distrust in our integrity and capacity as a socio-civic organization,” the UP Ecosoc said.

Now that we're talking about UP JMA, here's another rich kid org: UP Economics Society. #DoBetter pic.twitter.com/YLnwuWbX2y

— Mang Isko (@isko288088) October 17, 2023

In its statement, the UP OVCSA stressed that acts that jeopardize safe spaces are "never condoned" in the university.

 "Consistent with established rules and procedures, investigations are underway to determine if there were violations of university policies in the conduct of certain organizations' activities that might have compromised the safety and security of students and other members of the UPD community,” the statement read.

Both the UP Ecosoc and the UP JMA have been dropped off the list of organizations granted the right to help organize the university's annual UP Fair, according to a statement from the UP Diliman University Student Council (USC). 

The student council has also called on both organizations to "genuinely take accountability and rectification efforts, and for the necessary authorities to take immediate action on the matter."

In UP Diliman, student organizations are not required to detail its application processes and activities when applying for registration at the university level. According to a copy of the requirements uploaded online, student organizations have to submit, however, their constitution and by-laws.

Rules guiding the recognition of student organizations at the college level vary.