Chapter 9. For The Sake of Truth (II)

"Sir, I want to answer your question," said Febrian, one of the students in the class.

"Fine. What's your name?" asked Professor Cokro.

"I am Febrian, sir," he replied.

"Yes, please answer," said Professor Cokro.

"The formula that you wrote is a translation of Newton's Law 2, which states that any object moving in a straight line will produce a resultant force (F) if there is a determining variable, namely the object's mass or (m) and the object's acceleration or (a)," he replied.

"That's right," replied Professor Cokro.

"Now, all of you have to do the questions on the slide. There are 5 questions. I will leave this class for a while because I have a guest in the office. Please keep quiet because the other rooms also have a class," said Professor Cokro that was agreed by the students.

Professor Cokro came out of the A1 room to go to his office, to meet Herman who had been waiting for him all this time.

"Professor Cokro, I am sorry for interrupting your activities," said Herman in a standing position.

"Mr. Herman, sorry to make you wait. Please sit back," said Professor Cokro.

"Fine, sir," said Herman.

The dialogue between the two continued after Dinda, Professor Cokro's personal assistant, put 2 cups of black coffee on the table. The Dean of the Faculty of Engineering invited Herman to drink his coffee first, then followed by himself.

"How is the coffee, sir? Isn't it good?" asked Professor Cokro.

"It's good, Prof. The aroma also suits my taste," said Herman.

"I always drink coffee between teaching breaks or doing any other tasks as Dean. Anyway, it is always good regarding any other activities," explained Professor Cokro.

"Even though our campus’ condition is still heating up like right now, right Prof?" Herman asked while trying to make him talk.

"Yes, you could say that, Mr. Herman. The condition is heating up because my students were demonstrating a few days ago, right?" said the Dean while giving answers to Herman’s questions.

"Ahh.... A demonstration is a common thing, in my opinion, sir. That is one way to convey student aspirations for fair leadership in this campus," Herman replied diplomatically.

"That’s true. But I am very sorry that they broke some of the windows in the rectorate building, so yesterday I was called by the Rector Deputy 3 who responsible for student affairs," said Professor Cokro.

"Did the Rectorate give your faculty some detention for that, sir?" Herman asked.

"No, sir. It's just that Rector Deputy 3 asked us to impose detention to our five students who are suspected of being the provocateurs of vandalism," replied Professor Cokro.

"I think there must be a reason for the protesting. One of them is the irregularity in the use of funds for new student activities in 2015, Prof," said Herman.

"To be honest, that's not the only reason, sir. The increase in tuition fees per semester, the purchase of new official cars for Rectorate staff, and the appointment of the host of the Siupala University Student Sports Olympiad in 2017 were also full of problems. Those three reasons made our students protest against the Rectorate." said Professor Cokro.

Herman drank his coffee again until there was only half a cup. He took out a piece of paper containing the Registration Form for the Rector Election for the 2017-2021 period. He put the paper in front of the Dean.

"Professor Cokro, I beg you, join us for a better and fairer future for this campus," said Herman.

"What do you mean Mr. Herman? by proposing me to be the Chair of the Rector election?" asked Professor Cokro.

"That's right, Prof. You will also accompany by me, Professor Sari, Professor Helmi from the Faculty of Law, and other colleagues in the Senate who also want rector renewal on our university, sir," said Herman.

"What if I refuse it, sir?" asked Professor Cokro, frowning.

"Do you want to keep injustice action on our campus, Prof?" Herman asked, again, more firmly.

============ **** =============

"Miss Eriska, have you eaten yet?" said Frans, during recess at the Campus News Media Office.

"I already ate. How about you?" said Eriska, asking back.

"I already ate too. Pablo won’t come today. So, our talk must be postponed until tomorrow morning at 9," explained Frans.

"Hmm. Is he sick?" Eriska asked.

"He said so. He needs to rest today," said Frans.

"Speaking of Siupala University, is it true that he will bring the case back to our newspaper report?" Eriska asked.

"That’s true Eriska. Is there something to worry about?" asked Frans.

"I am worried about the safety of Pablo and his family," said Eriska.

"What do you mean? Do you say that he can be threatened by people who don't want the case to be re-revealed?" asked Frans.

"Of course. It’s like what has been experienced by Mr. Sofyan, the previous Chief Editor," said Eriska.

"What happened to Mr. Sofyan at that time?" asked Frans.

"As far as I know, Mr. Sofyan was forced to accept bribe money from a staff of the Rectorate at Siupala University as a bribe to keep his mouth shut. Because if Mr. Sofyan refused it, he would be killed," said Eriska.

"So, what happened after he received the money?" Asked Frans.

"Pak Sofyan resigned from his position because he felt that he failed to maintain the vision and mission of this newspaper and protect us," said Eriska, sadly.

"And since then, our newspaper has stopped reporting on that case?" asked Frans.

"You already know the answer," said Eriska, bursting into tears.

Frans, who also felt Eriska's feelings, then gave a handkerchief that was in his shirt pocket, so that Eriska could wipe away the tears that had already flowed. In Frans's mind, Eriska's words were the same as what Pablo had said.

"They are jerks. Wait, we're going to drag you to jail!" said Frans to himself, clenching his right fist as if he was about to punch something.

============= **** ============

Seeing the response from Professor Cokro who was not interested in his offer, Herman asked permission to leave Professor Cokro's room. He didn’t want to waste his time by waiting for uncertain answer from Professor Cokro.

"Excuse me, Prof. I will leave for now," said Herman with a flat face, while hiding his disappointment with Professor Cokro's attitude. 

In fact, Herman has spoken with Professor Cokro for almost 2 hours, providing arguments for his offer, but has not been able to win the heart of the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering.

At exactly 1 pm, Professor Cokro rushed to Room A2 in Building A, Faculty of Engineering, to fill the Research Methods lecture for 7th-semester students of the Chemical Engineering Department.

However, he briefly turned his eyes towards the Football Field belonging to the Faculty of Engineering, located behind Building A. He could see a group of students chanting resistance to the Rector.

"Get off ... get off ... get off Mirza. Get off Mirza right now. Get off ... down ... put down the Rector, send down the Rector right now!" loud voices from a group of students were being heard.

Shortly after that, a student who the leader of the crowd, came to the front row. Wearing a black headband and holding a loudspeaker, he stood up to deliver the speech confidently. He is Romi, Chief of the Faculty of Engineering Student Executive Board.

"For all of my engineering friends, do you agree that the policy from our university is unfair?" asked Romi.

"Agreed," said the crowd, which there were 165 people in total.

"Engineering friends, do you agree with the increase in tuition fees on our campus?" asked Romi.

"No," said the masses, simultaneously.

"Engineering friends, do you agree if we have to fight the injustice of the policy issued by the Rector?" asked Romi.

"Agreed. Mafia rectorate ... mafia rectorate ... mafia rectorate," said the mass of students who gathered while continuing to chant to get the Rector down.

Professor Cokro continued his steps towards Room A2. Entering the room, the students who will take part in the lecture have sat in their own chairs. Professor Cokro was so shocked to see the big writings on the blackboard who stated;

WE WANT THE RECTOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SIUPALA TO GET DOWN, MR. DEAN !

The class atmosphere became tense. 

"Who wrote this?" Professor Cokro asked, but none of the students in the room responded to the Dean's question. Even though Professor Cokro felt annoyed at the attitude of his students, he still tried to be calm.

"I will ask again, who wrote this?" asked Professor Cokro.

"It’s me, sir," said Revaldo, one of the students in the room.

"Revaldo, please leave this class! The place to convey aspirations is not in the classroom during class hours," said Professor Cokro.

"Mr. Dean, if you tell our friends to leave, we will all come out! We don't want to be led by a rotten Rector!" said Aldi, other students.

"Agreed ... agreed ... agreed," said all the students in the room.