The New CAS ID Policy Sucks Because the Guards Suck

I was fumbling with my ID at the gate of my college when the guard stopped me and pointed to a piece of paper. It was the new policy of the College of Arts and Sciences which basically prescribes stricter rules on wearing our IDs to get into and while staying on campus. Here’s the complete text:

 1. Students whose IDs are still being processed may present their form-5 as proof of enrollment. Otherwise their enrollment status will be verified from the OCS. Once verified, they will sign in the logbook and allowed entry.  

2. Students who forgot their IDs and Form 5 on the third instance within the week, month, or semester will no longer be allowed to enter the CAS premises. The student will be referred to the Office of the Student Affairs (OSA) for appropriate action.
 
3. Students are reminded to wear their ID at all times when inside the campus.
 
4. Erring students, or those who refuse to cooperate with the gate guards on the implementation of these rules, will be reported to the office of the Special Assistant to the Dean for Community Welfare (OSADCW) and the OSA for appropriate action.
 
5. All Visitors will be asked to surrender identification cards to the guards, sign the logbook, and issued a ‘Visitor’s Pass’ which must be worn at all times while at CAS.
 
6. The members of the faculty and staff are also enjoined to wear their IDs at all times.
 
7. Security guards are strongly advised to report irregular incidents to the Office of the Associate Dean for Planning and Development. Security guards have no disciplining authority over the students. The most they can do is to file an incident report and submit it to either OADPD or OSADCW.

The guard told me that I need to wear an ID lace when presenting my ID but as you can see, there’s no rule saying that. We are not even required to wear our IDs at all times inside the campus, we are only reminded. Big diff I haven’t been harrassed by a security guard in our campus before but there are a lot of stories around, to the point of a few students being asked by them to write an apology letter to the college for not bringing their IDs. According to Professor Ponsaran, this is not even a policy.

I’m sure that the school just wants to make sure that all its students are safe, but this is the University of the Philippines were talking about here and not some snotty private elementary school. Ok, that doesn’t have anything to do with anything, but I just had the impression that students have more freedom and autonomy here than anywhere else without being put to task by the university for forgetting or losing their IDs.

That’s another problem. If a student loses his or her ID, there will be hell to pay under the new policy. First of all it does not clarify whether the Form 5 can be used as a temporary ID in case of loss. A new ID costs P130, plus the P50 fee for the notary in validating the Affidavit of Loss. That’s P180 all in all. For the average UP student, that’s a lot of money already and it will take some time to pay up. Will sanctions mandated under the new ID policy still apply to the student in a case like this (if the Form 5 can’t be used as temporary ID)? If not, what are the necessary steps to make sure that the student is not harrassed while the ID is not yet replaced?

That’s all. Answers are much appreciated.