DUMAGUETE CITY, Oct. 4 (PIA) -- Silliman University (SU) cautioned students and faculty against using the social media to spread false information during the all-university academic convocation at the Claire Isabel McGill Luce Auditorium, this city.

SU President Dr. Betty Cernol McCann said “none of us should be involved in activities that deliberately spread disinformation or misinformation.”

McCann reminded the audience of SU’s commitment to the “discovery, investigation, and dissemination” of truth as an academic institution, regardless of any socio-political regime.

The university president also urged social media users and experts to “challenge disinformation, and where necessary, work together to take down websites deliberately engaged in it.”

Members of the SU community are also advised to use their expertise to promote truth, human rights, and democracy, consistent with the university’s values as a Christian institution of learning.  

The series of fact-checking trainings organized by the Office of Silliman Online University Learning (SOUL) and the Dr. Mariano Lao Innovation, Creation, and Invention (ICI) Laboratory since April 2021 aims to combat misinformation and disinformation.

The next fact-checking training by the SOUL office and Lao ICI Laboratory is a short course on “Fighting Information Disorder on Social” that is open to participants outside the university community and will be conducted every Saturday afternoon from October to December 2022.

“Simply defending the values of truth, healthy environment, and society’s well-being is no longer enough. We must advocate and advance them,” McCann said.

The all-university academic convocation is a bi-annual gathering of SU faculty, staff, and students held at the start of the semester for them to be informed about the latest developments in the university. (JCT/PIA7 Negros Oriental with reports from SU-OIP)