History

The history of the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy (CSSP), University of the Philippines (UP), dates back to the year 1910 although its name was given only in 1983. CSSP began as part of the College of Liberal Arts which was established on June 1910 by virtue of a decision of the UP Board of Regents.

The college previously existed as an institution called Junior College of Liberal Arts operated by the Bureau of Education of the Department of Public Instruction. At first it was named the College of Philosophy, Science and Letters before it was changed to the College of Liberal Arts on 30 January 1911.

The college had two units-- the Junior College which offered two years of study leading to the degree of Bachelor of Arts; and the Senior College which offered three years of study leading to the degree of Master of Arts. The coursework in the Junior College was such as to prepare the students who wished to enroll in professional course.

Before the start of the first semester of the academic year 1959-1960, the College of Liberal Arts was reorganized into three academic units - the University College, the College of Arts and Sciences and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. All three units, however, were served by only one faculty.

The College of Liberal Arts was reorganized in order to solve the problem that may result with the implementation of the basic education program. The University College started its operations during the first semester of 1959-1960. It was given the task of teaching the general education courses, including the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences, for the first two years. To strengthen the foundation of a liberal education, the college was expected to continue the general education, as well as to correct some aspects taught in high school.

Meanwhile the third and subsequent years of college studies were handled by the College of Arts and Sciences which was mandated to continue offering undergraduate courses in the Humanities, Social Sciences, Natural and Physical Sciences, Mathematics and Languages. These disciplines were offered by the college as fields of specialization. As such, the third and subsequent years of college studies of a student were focused on one discipline for in-depth study, aside from other related disciplines, called free electives, which he may take.

The different roles played by the University College and the College of Arts and Sciences necessitated separate administrations. To avoid the overlapping of roles of the two colleges and to integrate the various disciplines, three major divisions were formed to take the place of the academic departments -- the Division of Humanities, Division of Social Sciences, arid the Division of Natural Sciences. The traditional academic disciplines operated under their respective divisions without any departmental head.

On 26 October 1983, the UP Board of Regents issued Administrative Order No.170 creating three new colleges from the former College of Arts and Sciences - the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy (CSSP), ripe College of Arts and Letters (CAL), and the College of Science (CS). Dr Francisco Nemenzo (1976-1981) of the Department of Political Science was the Dean of the CAS before it was split into three colleges.

The Social Sciences and Philosophy are the foundation of a relevant university education. Students are encouraged to respond to the need for critical thought and inquiry, as well as to disseminate and refine the standards of values which they so constantly apply in daily living. The college, with the help and guidance of highly competent faculty and staff shares the vision of molding students to "search further into the depths of knowledge and to pursue truth."

The CSSP located at the Palma Hall, is composed of the following departments: Anthropology, Geography, History, Linguistics, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology and Population Institute. The Third World Studies Program and the Folklore and Philippine Studies Program are also housed under the CSSP which also takes charge of the administration of Diliman Review, a quarterly publication-for the stu-dents of the three colleges.

(excerpts from "A brief history and organizational set-up of CSSP", CSSP Faculty Directory: Human Resources for Research, Training and Consultancy :1990)