PARENTS of student-athletes who were stripped of their scholarships asked the University of the East on Friday to reconsider its decision, saying that the move was “callous, if not downright arbitrary.”

“It was done without sufficient notice to the student-athletes concerned to give them ample time to prepare themselves and transfer, look or find for other big colleges or universities where they can avail of athletic scholarship to pursue their studies,” the parents said in a letter to UE President Ester Garcia.

They stressed that removing the athletes’ scholarships caused “mental suffering” to the students and parents.

“This kind of big decision-making should be done with utmost and careful deliberations for the morale and welfare of the students-athletes are at stakes in this time of pandemic — where some or almost all of us Filipinos are in dire economic and mental straits,” they said.

The parents added that depriving the students of scholarship is like “stripping them of honor and dignity.”

They reiterated that athletic scholarship is “a great motivating factor for students to excel” in sports and in their academic endeavors.

“As proof of their dedication as UE varsity Taekwondo athletes, these athletes did not stop their training even during the pandemic and also participated and won in various national and international PTA sanctioned taekwondo competitions,” the parents said.

“Student athletes work hard for these scholarship privileges,” they added.

The university dissolved at least five sports team and fully removed the scholarship grants of the athletes.

The affected athletes are from taekwondo, chess, softball, weightlifting, and fencing teams.