To Devolve or Not to Devolve

Soon after the president of a multi-campus university assumed office in 2000, he, together with his management committee (ManCom) undertook a review of the university's organizational structure. Specifically, the university president was interested to find out what offices were under his office and those of the vice-presidents. To his surprise he discovered that under his office alone, there were about ten offices - offices which were under his direct supervision.

The president, even before assuming his new position, had already set down the major programs he wanted to pursue during his term. He figured he would have to spend a good part of his time overseeing the planning and implementation of these new programs. At the same time he was concerned that there were ten other offices that would need his attention given the structure that he inherited. It did not take long for the ManCom to agree that the ten offices should be devolved to the vice-presidents or to the regional campuses not only to unload the Office of the President of responsibilities which clearly belonged to the operating offices but more importantly to put those offices where they can operate more effectively given that the office of the President is more into policy making. Two of those offices were the Center for Filipino Language and the Center for Women's Studies.

The ManCom found out that with the present structure, the involvement of the other campuses in the two centers were minimal. Yet the people who are expected to participate in the promotion of the Filipino language and women's studies are in the campuses. The ManCom thus felt the centers should be located where the action is.

The Center for Filipino Language was established by the University's Board in 1989. Being a new office then and considering that the university's language policy was a major issue at that time, it was decided that the Center be placed under the Office of the President. There was only one such center in the entire university and all projects were centralized in this office. Over the years, however, campuses found it more expedient to organize projects at their level. Soon the campuses set up their own regional centers and pursued similar projects but on a smaller scale. The only campus that did not put up its own office was the main campus and that was because the Center was located in that campus.

The Center for Women Studies was established and set up at about the same time. Women's issues were the order of the day in the 80s and the University felt it should take the lead in promoting studies on women. As in the case of the Center for Filipino Language, the campuses pursued projects on their own. The only difference was that they did not have a permanent structure that would manage these projects. Neither did the projects pursued by the campuses have any permanent budget allocation..

The eight other centers under the Office of the President were devolved immediately to either the offices of the vice-presidents or to the campuses. The devolution of these offices were made quickly and no problem was encountered as a result of the decision. Transfer was smooth and no complaint was received from any of the offices or their personnel.

The case of the Center for Filipino Language and the Center for Women's Studies was different. The directors of the centers did not quite like the idea that they were no longer going to report to the university's highest official and immediately interpreted the move as a deemphasizing not only the importance of their offices but more importantly, the significance of the issues that the two centers are promoting. "Devolving to the campuses would also make coordination difficult", they said.

Even before the decision was finalized calls from sectors outside the university started coming in - interceding in behalf of the heads of the centers - and warning the new president that that it was not politically correct to make such a move. Removing the two offices from his office would be interpreted as a lack of interest on his part and on the part of the university in these two major issues: national language and women

Two options were being considered by the ManCom: 1) to devolve the offices to the appropriate office of a vice president; and 2) to devolve the two offices to the campuses. ManCom also recommended the transfer of personnel/staff, the budget and physical properties of the two offices to wherever they will be devolved. On the other hand, the directors of the Centers argued there should be no devolution at all. How should the president handle the situation?