It's just that the format should change. Senior students should speak to the younger |students nicely," he said.
He also supported the use of positive activities to foster a bond among students.
Complaints have rarely reached universities' top executives. Even if sometimes they do, the executives are prone to consider this an issue between freshies and seniors.
Why? The answer could be as simple as "It's a normal thing for seniors to exercise a capacity to earn freshies' respect and to achieve harmony among bullied freshies".
However, like many things in the world, SOTUS indeed needs a change for the sake of society.
At many companies, employees from different departments get to know new colleagues and their responsibilities through a volunteering session. Such could be adopted for university freshies as well. Aside from harmony, they could do something good for society.
For example, universities may encourage all student clubs to come up with do-good projects. A budget could be then allocated according to the scale of the project.
Perhaps, all freshies should be required to spend at least three days for the social projects. This should not trigger any opposition from parents because they know their children are going to do good things for the society.
Spending time together at a remote village would of course help students develop bonds and feel a pride in taking part in helping rural people. Indeed, this is a great way to produce graduates with good hearts.
On the other front, is coaching on cheer song themes unnecessary?
At Thammasat University, there is no such requirement, but nearly all students can sing all the themes and that is shown at the annual soccer match against Chulalongkorn University. One of my colleagues still can remember some songs 20 years after her graduation. Rebelling in nature, she said she might have forgotten all if she was ordered to sing the songs.
If SOTUS is really about developing a sense of harmony among freshies, it is time for the universities and senior students to find out if there is a better way to achieve the goal.