THE Ateneo de Manila University is now being judged by the Filipino public for its actions in the wake of the deaths of two Blue Eagles basketball players during an off-campus training outing at a beach resort in Aurora. The passionate comments and posts on social media have called on the Ateneo leadership to live up to the ethos of truth and transparency it has long taught and preached not only to its students but also — albeit indirectly — to Philippine society. The clamor for full disclosure is coming not only from ordinary Filipinos and high officials but also from the Ateneo’s own alumni, faculty, parents and students. The way Ateneo handled this incident has been condemned in both mass and social media.
The term “Ateneo Way” has been mentioned a few times in the current discourse. But what is it, exactly?
To answer this, a brief digression is helpful. Ateneo de Municipal was one of the earliest primary schools established by the Spanish colonizers within the walled city of Intramuros in 1859. Its students are children of the Spanish ruling class, native elites and promising novices of the friars. Ateneo’s patron is Saint Ignatius of Loyola, a Castilian knight whose marauding ways were bent by God’s will when his leg was crushed by a cannon in the Battle of Pamplona. While recovering, he read books about the saints and finally consecrated his life to serve Christ as he surrendered his battlefield sword before Our Lady of Montserrat.
In Ateneo, students from grade school to college are taught in the spiritual meditations of Saint Ignatius, shaping them to be Christ-centered, guided by “cura personalis” and formed as persons-for-others. One of the foremost guides Ateneans know by heart is “The Prayer for Generosity,” which calls them to serve and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heal the wounds, to toil and not to seek rest, and to labor and not to ask for reward. In short, all Ateneans understand that much is expected from them since much has been given: top-caliber education, a conducive environment, comfortable living and, above all, intensive spiritual mentoring. They are expected to become models of upright conduct in a highly scrutinizing Philippine society.
But like any other institution, Ateneo is not perfect and responds to the best of its abilities amid the intense pressures of a changing world. There could be ways in the past that worked before, but in today’s social-media hyperrealism, Ateneo can be perceived as elitist and even out of touch. The silence of the Ateneo leadership in the first few days after the death of its two student-athletes was deafening. It was misinterpreted by many as indifference, or even possibly a cover-up. The coaching staff and its head were bashed on social media as criminally negligent for their military-style training. And the entire Ateneo leadership was characterized as living in a bubble, unperturbed by the wails of those players’ bereaved families and the public’s clamor for the truth.
Indeed, the Ateneo Way might have deviated into uncharted and crooked roads, taking into account the political, financial, cultural and technological headwinds that the nation is likewise engulfed in. The mob mentality on social media is infectious and appalling, like a virus spreading and crucifying suspects even without an impartial investigation. Everyone has their own opinions and takeaways, even if a clear picture of the truth is yet to be formed. Or perhaps the truth is ignored to suit one’s cognitive biases and emotional dispositions.
For most Ateneans, who are calm, sober and not fixated with the social media universe, they want the truth to unravel and for those responsible to be held accountable, administratively and criminally. They want the Ateneo leadership to institute major reforms in its athletic program. They want to reflect on their own frailties and shortcomings that might have contributed to the deaths of those student-athletes. And most especially, they want respect and less noise on the real victims of this tragedy: the two student-athletes, their families and teammates, and their coaches. Without knowing it, the indignant public may be unaware of the psychological scars it is inflicting on these people that may last for a lifetime.
Yet Ateneans will never abandon their alma mater and the Ateneo Way, a path clearly shown by Saint Ignatius and their Jesuit mentors. They will not defend what is wrong, but they will not lay down guilt on anyone just to satisfy bloggers’ temporary lust for clout, conspiracy theories, or even external influence of political candidates next election season. Ateneo will stand by truth and transparency, but not in the mangled manner or lack of due process that throws people under the bus. That’s not the Ateneo Way.
Ateneo will not be legalistic to shield those who are guilty, but will adhere to the spirit of generosity in bestowing justice to all. This is the Ateneo Way, not the mob’s way.
