Being himself and more

“God pulls a rug from under your feet and life changes inevitably,” Br. Ricardo P. Laguda FSC said in a recent speech to the general assembly at De La Salle University (DLSU) Manila.

Laguda, who was appointed chancellor in 2010 and became concurrent university president in 2012, leaves for Rome today to assume new responsibilities. He has been elected general councilor, one of five who will be assisting the likewise newly elected superior general of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (Fratres Scholarum Christianarum in Latin, hence the abbreviation FSC).

“One part of my portfolio will be the Asia-Pacific region. My official address will be in Singapore. I will travel to Rome only four times during the year,” Laguda said.

The 45-year-old Christian brother received his basic education from, well, the University of St. La Salle in Bacolod City. But perhaps not very many people know that the man who would be DLSU president earned his Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy degree from Ateneo de Manila University in 1992. That same year, his roots claimed him back from the Jesuits when he began his postulancy at Lasallian Center. Laguda subsequently received his master’s degree as well as his Ph.D. from DLSU and served as teacher, formator and administrator in the religious order whose main ministry is education.

De La Salle was founded in Manila in 1911 as an all-male school. Today the university has as many female students as male among its 20,000 undergraduate and graduate enrollees at its School of Economics and its seven colleges—Business, Computer Studies, Education, Engineering, Liberal Arts, Science and Law. At its Science and Technology Center located in Santa Rosa City, Laguna province, there are nearly 2,000 students enrolled in the integrated elementary and secondary school. All of these have been under Laguda’s supervision.

“Whatever ministry I am assigned to, whether I make decisions affecting the salary of the faculty or building infrastructure or developing a strategic plan, it all boils down to how this will impact the life of the students,” he said.

Before vacating his DLSU post, Laguda agreed to talk to the Inquirer about the challenges and the blessings he is about to leave behind.

What was your first realization after taking over the responsibility for DLSU, which is one of the top three in the country? 

I’m the kind of person who takes things in stride, whether I’m assigned to Papua New Guinea (1997-1999) or I’m asked to be a novice director or a teacher at La Salle Green Hills or the president of DLSU. For me those are moments when God continues to—this may sound corny—express his love for me or speak to me. I’ve always felt grateful for having been given the opportunity.

I’m always optimistic. At certain points in my life I might have questions—how did I get here, why is this happening—but in faith, somehow things would come into place and, in hindsight, I would realize it wasn’t that big of a problem (laughs).

Who is taking over your position? 

There is a search going on right now. The brothers and the trustees have formed a nomination committee that  is doing a multisectoral consultation process with the faculty, the staff, the parents and the students.

Did you say you did some strategic planning to make some changes?  

It was both for innovation and continuation. The university has a hundred-year history and you can’t just break that. But I think there have also been conditions that required new responses. Computers and the Internet, for example, did not exist before, and they have changed the whole concept of how we educate students today. So instead of a lecture method, a more interactive method of learning has become the norm for us.

We have not entirely done away with the lecture type, but we do hybrids. A certain percentage of the time is face-to-face and a certain percentage is online. It depends a lot on the teachers. Some teachers are comfortable with technology and others are not. I know many of our teachers allow their students to post their work online or on social media.

We have a training program in technology for the faculty. They cannot offer hybrid classes unless they go through the training.

What have you learned about yourself? 

That’s a tough question (long pause).

First, I have learned to love my vocation as a brother even more and appreciate the ministry of bring a brother and educator. I’ve been a missionary, a teacher, a formator and an administrator. In all those different ministries and from those perspectives, I’ve come to realize that what is most important is the vocation regardless of the position.

Second, leadership has nothing to do with the position. It’s about being a person of integrity and a person with a vision, and allowing that vision to take shape in collaboration with others who can contribute to your vision. So I have learned a lot from my mentors, from the board of trustees to the students.

I have a quote from Herman Wells (former president of Indiana University). He said “the ideal university president must have the physical charm of a Greek athlete, the cunning of Machiavelli, the wisdom of Solomon, the courage of a lion, the skin of a rhino … and the stomach of a goat.” (laughs)

It’s funny but it’s also true, because as president of a tertiary institution like DLSU, you play different roles. It’s interesting because the different stakeholders have different expectations and part of your job is managing those expectations but at the same time making sure you let them know that this is where the university wants to go, and then bringing them in and making sure that the Lasallian mission remains the supreme goal of our institution.

What is the Lasallian mission? 

Teach minds, touch hearts, transform lives—those are the six words that best describe our mission. Educating the young so hopefully they can transform the society into a better one and touch the lives of our people, especially the poor.

How do you reconcile that with the high tuition? 

We try to make our university accessible through scholarships. Right now 23 percent of our student population are on full scholarship. Our goal last year was 20 percent—we’ve exceeded that. We will continue to increase that. I hope we reach the level of 25 percent. Right now for every four students, one is a scholar or somebody is paying for the cost of his or her education.

We have different kinds of scholarships. The star scholarship is based on merit. We have athletic scholarships. We have scholarships for students who are part of journalism organizations, for those who are in the dance and music groups, for those who are in certain income groups, for public school students.

What are the biggest problems your successor will have to face? 

The challenge is how to navigate ourselves with the new external changes that are happening. One is the K to 12. Second is the new curriculum for general education.

DLSU is an urban campus where the transformation lately has been vertical even though you’ve acquired quite a sizable property here. Are you buying more real estate in this area?

There are no plans to acquire more property in the Taft Avenue area. We are going to have a campus at the Fort, where we will move the College of Law and the other professional courses. We already have an existing campus in Canlubang (Santa Rosa City), which is

50 hectares.

You were both president and chancellor—how difficult was that? 

Not that difficult. I was able to delegate a lot because I had three vice chancellors—one for academic, one for research and one for the La Sallian mission— and I had three vice presidents—one for Canlubang, one for finance and one for administration.

What accomplishments are you most proud of? 

One is the scholarships. We were at 16 percent and now we are at 23. We’ve raised a lot. We have so many generous benefactors, all of whom are alumni or have some kind of ties with the university.

We also went through a two-year process to come up with a strategic plan.

Our faculty salary is the most competitive. We are the most transparent; our salary scale is available online.

But I think I am most proud of the achievements of the students, be it national or regional, in sports, academics, leadership or other fields, and the faculty, who have increased our research outputs in poverty alleviation, environment, applied technology and other priority areas.

It is not so much that I am proud. It is more that because of these accomplishments, I know that in spite of our limited resources compared to our Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) neighbors in higher education, we have so much to give in terms of human talent.

How are you doing in your outreach programs? 

At least 75 percent of our degree programs have community engagement projects. We have hydropower projects that provide electricity to the barrios and indigenous communities. Some of our students are helping the nearby communities in Leveriza (Pasay City) to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. We do a lot of outreach but we don’t brag about them.

Is there anything else that you wish for DLSU? 

That it will continue its mission for the youth and make sure they become a generation of leaders who will transform the society and have a concern for those who are poor.

How have you succeeded in that mission with today’s students? 

The students today have more opportunities to express their faith, their sense of service, as well as in looking for communities they think they want to belong to. In my generation, the only expression of faith we had was going to church on Sundays. We had a few activities but they were not as vibrant as those of today’s generation.

They have been accused of being the selfie generation and the selfish generation, but they are most creative and innovative in whatever tasks they are given. There is a lot of confidence. They are very articulate at their age. Our students can come up with solar cars when at their age all we were doing was playing with matchboxes (laughs). Our students are developing computer applications; we were playing checkers.

Are you close to the students? 

I like to believe so. I hope so. They FB (Facebook) message me. I don’t think they even do e-mail now. They text me. They come and talk to me about their plans.

One group of students told me that they would bid to host a Harvard event. They said they would look for sponsors themselves and raise the money they would need. At the bidding, Japan won; they came second. But to be up against Japan, that’s something.

And the students who have been working on the solar car and electric car: They pull all-nighters sometimes to work on their projects. I am so impressed.

I will miss the students. Being with the students makes my mission a lot easier and because of them I have been blessed.

I joined the brothers because I know this is where God has spoken to me. I grew up with the brothers in La Salle. As early as 6 years old I thought about it because of a certain American brother, Br. Felix [Masson]. He left that imprint in me at a young age, planted the seed. He was our grade school principal and then he became my high school teacher.

He was a good model. He would call the students to his office on their birthdays, play dominoes with them, give them estampitas. Every year, no fail.

When I became a brother, during prayers, he would still pray for his students on their birthdays. He had a list, handwritten in a small notebook. Brother Felix stayed here for 50 years. When he became too weak he returned to the United States.

Do you have any advice for the incoming president? 

Just be yourself. Whatever leadership style you want to use, it should be something close to who you are. Be yourself, plus more. With skill.

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