TO be a university president in the time of the pandemic and postpandemic are both a challenge and an opportunity. Challenge because nothing has prepared you to lead under VUCA, and opportunity because the president is given the chance to disrupt the status quo and build a competitive university, where one does not operate like a political party. I was the 15th president of a local university in 2019, and I resigned in 2021 after much had been done in holding the fort during the pandemic months.

Bringing 34 years to the position with 15 years in the public, academic nongovernment sectors, and 19 years in the private sector, one can decide to just coast along: “No heavy lifting and just go to the office to sign documents and the system will take care of itself.” That was the advice. But one had to look at the context of reform, trying to right the nakasanayan and instill the sense of duty in molding and nurturing the future. A university president must carry reforms mindful of three stakeholders: student, faculty and alumni. Managing people, infrastructure, budget, income streams are vital. Working with politicians and getting them to understand why they need to deliver on the capital outlay, for salaries to be given on time and plantilla positions for promotions are critical. Facilities make the university the second home and that includes parking, connectivity, food in the cafeteria, water and electricity, among others.

The worst part is dealing with syndicated activities by some who have grown roots in the university, thinking and behaving like they own every piece of space and equipment. Gaming the system was their way to go. Some say being a university president is a big deal. I discovered that in order to be remembered, one must confront these before one can pursue one’s plan. In my case, I wanted to start Education 4.0 to produce the needed graduates in Industry 4.0. There were key programs that needed to be institutionalized but be creative enough to conform with CHEd. Interestingly CHEd, uses the same guidelines for SUCs to LUCs, which has created disadvantages for the LUCs.

As president, one must grow a thick skin to get donors to help from every aspect of programmatic reform. They will save the day for the university in the midterm and hopefully, the alumni network will come in for the long haul. The president would have to, time to time, do surprise visits just to check on facilities. This to me was the way for management to show concern and give attention to what matters most to students, faculty and non-academic personnel. And we are not yet talking about journals, publications and research.

As a product of the University of the Philippines system, I often follow the rituals of its search for the president,

UP naming mahal, right? This time around, I was saddened by the fact that there was no female applicant for the position. The all-male cast are: UP Diliman Chancellor Fidel Nemenzo (making an agile UP, a smart UP, and a high-impact UP); lawyer Salvador B. Belaro, Jr. (secure a higher budget for the university to achieve its goal of becoming a truly global university); former UP regent, lawyer Angelo A. Jimenez (research power, digital transformation and democratic access); former UPD vice chancellor for academic affairs, Dr. Benito M. Pacheco (futures thinker-leader for the strategic re-imagining of and advocacy for our university mandate for the long term: public service and outreach; teaching; research and creative work; faculty and staff development; and democratic governance); former UPLB chancellor, Dr. Fernando C. Sanchez (prioritize benefits, facilities, opportunities, and inclusion to nurture and protect UP constituents; and his presentation highlighted “synergy in diversity” in making UP a catalyst for inclusive national development); and Catanduanes State University president Dr. Patrick Alain T. Azanza (transform the present university system into a “multiversity” or “meta-versity,” put UP at par with “universities of the future” while promoting diversity, a clearer sense of purpose, happiness and human greatness).

All in all, there are four PhDs and two lawyers running for a single six-year term, beginning February 2023 and up to 2029. The 22nd president of UP will be under the current Marcos administration and eight months under the one succeeding it. It will have to reach out to a House of Representatives headed by a Romualdez (Visayas) and a Senate by a Zubiri (Mindanao) up to 2025 and a different composition after the midterms. The politics of the day will determine if the one selected by the board of regents can muster the will to ride the wind.

Currently, there are 11 board members: four are directly appointed by Malacañang and two are members of Congress being chairs of the standing committee on higher education. The remaining five are from the UP community (incumbent UP president, faculty, students, staff and alumni). A simple majority is needed to elect the UP president, but a unanimous vote would set the stage for the 22nd to be vested with a high trust to manage the 114-yearold premier university of the country where honor and excellence matters.

So, it is quite interesting to see a full math person attempting what can be a record of sorts. Fidel is a numbers guy and a Nemenzo. He is after all the son of the 18th UP president, Francisco “Dodong” Nemenzo Jr. and well-known women’s rights champion, Princess Nemenzo. His wife, Dr. Marivic Raquiza, is also a tenured faculty from the National College of Public Administration. Truly a family of academics and activists. Fidel grew up at UP, rose through the ranks from instructor to professor, and eventually became chancellor of UP Diliman in March 2020.

Students of the 1980s know what a Nemenzo represents. Fidel was shot in the back during a Welcome Rotonda rally on Sept. 27, 1984, and almost died from the single M-16 bullet that pierced his body. We are who we are.

Activism and mathematics are meshed in Fidel Nemenzo. Surely, as one passes the university, eventually one gets the activist DNA at some point and in various shades. That was then, today, one has to see through activism and express it in different ways without losing the compass that allows us to see things and events from a different lens.

From a dull list to an abbreviated presentation not to the various communities of the system as tradition dictated then, to the maneuverings among fraternities and comes now an endorsement by 58 National Artists, National Scientists, UP professors emeriti across many fields and disciplines from various UP campuses.

At the end, it could just be a vote of one man or allowing the members of the board to cast their independent votes signaling a time for mutual respect and the blossoming of various persuasions “in UP’s singular status as a safe haven and secure refuge for the pursuit of an empowering truth and the nurturing of critical thinking.”

To be a university president today, one has to be a disrupter to thread the path where others dare not go and to be an innovator, where some find solace in taking that leap of faith. Indeed, as Pythagoras said, “There is geometry in the humming of the strings, there is music in the spacing of the spheres.”