The university’s student handbook provides that indecent acts could subject a student to disciplinary action ranging from reprimand to expulsion.
Kibitzers were quick to spread rumors that the female actor in the scandal has been expelled from the university – which meant her dream of becoming a professional was gone for naught, as once expelled, a student may no longer be admissible in other schools.
Sure, USJ-R could have taken the direction most people expected.
But the university did not stoop down to calls for condemnation – which many expected of the Catholic university, citing a similar but tamer show of indecency in social media by some minor Catholic schoolgirls last year.
By showing compassionate, the university showed strength of character and that scintilla of magnificence sorely missed in many educational institutions.
When the female student enlisted a lawyer and faced the media last Wednesday to appeal to USJ-R to let her finish her degree, the scandal took a new twist.
And now the scandal will crescendo with the public’s voyeuristic tendencies put to shame.
But make no mistake about it, the actors in the sex video have not gone unpunished. The shame, the social stigma of their youthful indiscretion, especially of the woman is far more harsh.
The scandal again reminded the public that women, even at the height of their indiscretion, deserve respect and should never be treated as sex objects.
The scandal again reminded the public, especially the youth, the so-called digital natives, to be more circumspect in using technology at their fingertips.
The proper handling by USJ-R of the scandal was indeed empowering. There is no doubt they can overcome this crisis.
Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote in Crime and Punishment: “Power is given only to him who dares to stoop and take it … one must have the courage to dare.”
For that, USJR’s noblesse oblige – the use of their moral obligation and powerful social position with honor, kindness, generosity and compassion, deserves a standing ovation.