Page 42 - The Flame

Issues

Irresponsible use of new media

SWDB imposes sanctions against escalating cyber-bullying cases

By CHRISTINE DIANE R. ALMANZOR and CHRISTIAN CARL E. NARIZ
The technological innovati ons posed by modernizati on give both advantageous and disadvantageous eff ects to humanity. For instance, the new media are considered benefi cial for the overfl owing informati on they provide
their users. However, negati ve eff ects also hound the people as they indecently abuse technology. This negati ve implicati on is manifested by the sudden rise of cyber-bullying cases that mostly aff ect today’s youth.

ASES of cyber-bullying at the Univer- since there are a lot of students complain- members, employees, fellow students, and
sity have gradually increased over the ing about classmates uploading or posti ng visitors consti tute an un-Christi an behavior;
Cyears as a result of the present gen- degrading content on Facebook, we just likewise, the unreasonable refusal to com-
erati on’s unmediated and unguided use of want to emphasize that you are not only li- ply with lawful orders of University authori-
modern technology. able for your acti ons inside the University, ti es and/or their agents consti tute an un-
The sudden rise of social networking but in the electronic media as well.” Christi an behavior.”
sites such as Facebook and Twitt er among The policy guidelines and conditi ons Chua said the new handbook will now
others have contributed to this phenom- writ- ten in the old include the provi- sion
enon where incidents of cyber-bullying are stu-
rampant.
This alarming increase of cases reported
to the diff erent colleges and fac-
ulti es of the University pushed
the administrati on to fi nal- l y
lay certain sancti ons to address this
problem.
According to Faculty of
Arts and Lett ers (Artlets)
Assistant Dean and Art-
lets Student’s Welfare
Development Board
(SWDB) coordinator
Nancy Tabirara, com-
plaints of bullying
involving the use of In-
ternet have been present
since 2010.
“During the last semes-
ter, complaints on cyber-
bullying have been conti nuous
parti cularly towards the last two
months. It was as if we receive the
complaints involving the inter-
net on a weekly basis,” Tabirara
said.
The same reason moti vat-
ed the UST-SWDB Director At-
torney Antonio Chua to revise the
student handbook and include sanc-
ti ons for cyber-bullying.
“Sancti ons on cyber-bullying have been
indirectly present before it was included in
the student handbook. But this ti me, we
just want to make it clear that the acti ons
of students in the electronic media will be
covered,” Chua said. d e n t
Chua explained that the provision on h a n d b o o k EDILBERTO LORENZO R. MORELOS, JR.
the student handbook pertaining to polite- p e r t a i n i n g
ness indirectly covered incidents of cyber- to courte- s y r e -
bullying. stated that, “Thoma- garding cyber-bullying which reads as
“Remember that in your handbook, it is sian students, must, at all ti mes, be cour- follows: “In the use of electronic media,
stated that as a student, you are supposed teous and respectf ul of others. Any act of (eg. Facebook, Multi ply) the student shall
to be courteous to your classmates, teach- disrespect, either in words or in deeds, avoid doing acts of indecency through us-
ers, and the administrati on,” he added. “But done toward University authoriti es, faculty ing indecent words and uploading indecent
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