Skip to main content

UP firsts: Centennial trivia

Now that we are celebrating the University of the Philippines centennial, did you know that

Graduate degrees

UP awarded its first MA degree to a woman? Her name is Josefa Desiderio who got her MA in 1917, the year UP's grad school first produced its graduates.

The next year saw UP award its first MSc degrees to two men, Amando Clemente and Jose Mirasol.

The university also awarded its first research doctorates in 1918 in tropical medicine and public health. Before that time the university awarded professional doctorates in medicine and dentistry and of course honorary doctorates.

Salaries

As early as 1922 the UP had a problem with professors salaries. Professors' salaries were way below that of other professions. (What else is new?) Profs left to teach at private universities or go overseas. (What else has changed?!)

Budget

Even as early as 1919, UP wanted (and sorely needed) bigger state subsidies. UP got 1.12 million dollars from the Philippine Insular government. Compare that to state Us in America. Michigan got 13.79, Minnesota 8.946, Iowa 9.22 and Ohio 6.994. The president of UP was then an American, Dr Guy Potter Benton and he was already concerned about decreasing state support.

There was even talk of UP being privatized! Some politicians believed that the university was a waste of money! (Nothing has changed!)

The politician who took issue about the budget and opposed these moves was no other than Senate President Manuel L Quezon. Quezon later would be elected as first President of the Philippine Commonwealth.

Academic costume brouhaha!

Benton appointed a committee to design the university academic costume. The university regents approved a gown in white as an"adaptation" to the tropical climate. The students found it silly and in 1922 the UP decided to adopt the usual black gown.

I wonder if the "sablay" committee read the minutes of the board of regents about this acrimonious debate in 1920-1921.

Source: Jamias C. (1963) The University of the Philippines First Half Century. The Diliman Review, UP Diliman, Quezon City.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

How should we remember General Antonio Luna?

Well it seems with that proposal to rename Camp Aguinaldo to Camp Antonio Luna in time for National Heroes Day has generated a lot of social media buzz. We really have to really understand our national heroes. Antonio Luna was a remarkable personality but like all of us was flawed. He likely would be an academic had the revolution not intervened. He would have been the first Dean of a College of Science of the Philippine University had the nation made the transition to indepe ndence in a peaceful manner. That was recognized by the American College of Pharmacy when they feted Dr Luna on what would have been his 60th birthday noting his work in combating malaria. But that was not to be. He became a soldier. General Luna was for a professional military within the bounds of the constitution. Perhaps that is the biggest sign of contradiction for today. Please answer the question: Would President Duterte (or a President Aquino, Marcos, Arroyo, Quezon etc) have a General Luna as his c...

Simoun's lamp has been lit, finally.. not by one but by the many!

"So often have we been haunted by the spectre of subversion which, with some fostering, has come to be a positive and real being, whose very name steals our serenity and makes us commit the greatest blunders... If before the reality, instead of changing the fear of one is increased, and the confusion of the other is exacerbated, then they must be left in the hands of time..." Dr Jose Rizal "To the Filipino People and their Government" Jose Rizal dominates the Luneta, which is sacred to the Philippine nation as a place of martyrdom. And many perhaps all of those executed in the Luneta, with the exception of the three Filipino secular priests martyred in 1872, have read Rizal's  El Filibusterismo . Dr Rizal's second novel is a darker and more sinister one that its prequel but has much significance across the century and more after it was published for it preaches the need for revolution with caveats,  which are when the time is right and who will in...

Marikina River and the "janitor" fish

My newest environmental science research project is to determine the evolutionary biology of invasion by the "janitor fish" in Marikina River. Today we made our first survey and collections. Marikina River is the"greenest"in Metro Manila but that is just on the surface. One master's student is doing her thesis on biotic integrity and a volunteer MD is working on the project too. The "janitor fish (Pterygoplichthys sp) is the dominant fish now in the river,displacing traditional Marikina food fishes such as dalag and hito. The fish are collected and left to rot on the riverbanks. Despite this, there is still some subsistence fishing on the river. The highest densities of the fish are observed near sewage outfalls where they find food to eat. It is likely that the fish can be controlled if we can clean up the river! BTW the name "janitor fish" insults janitors. The fish thrive in dirty rivers and don't clean them up. Janitors on the other hand, ...