Chula denies it was ashamed of sandwich-selling student

A photo of Chulalongkorn sophomore selling sandwiches to pay for his mother’s cancer treatment went viral last week. Photo: @Toodtuu_Uncle

Chulalongkorn University dismissed word it had prohibited a student from talking to the press after he received attention from the media for selling sandwiches at the campus to pay for his mother’s THB150,000 monthly medical bills.

A Manager Online reporter was rejected at the campus on Friday and told by a university official that Inthat Sattayanurak, a second-year Communication Arts student, could not give an interview because it might affect his studies and the university’s reputation, even though the reporter had an appointment with him

However, deputy-rector of the Faculty of Communication Arts Metha Sereethanawong said Saturday it was a misunderstanding.

“It’s true there have been some talks among the faculty members because many reporters came to the campus and waited for the student at classrooms,” Metha said, “So I let him (Inthat) decide if he wants to refrain from giving interviews at the moment because we feel sorry for him that he has to answer hundreds of calls a day. This was not the rector’s order. Our staff who said that to the reporter might have misunderstood.”

Meanwhile, Tanit Tongthong, the university’s deputy rector, said Chulalongkorn did not have a policy to conceal Intouch’s “good deeds.” The student’s action is admirable and a good image for the university. It shows Chulalongkorn has a student who is responsible and grateful to their parents, according to the university’s Facebook post on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Intouch also wrote he was overwhelmed by the media attention and decided not to give interviews because he does not want his family to find out.

“The person who breaks the media attention is me,” Inthat wrote on his Facebook. “My parents do not know how I earned the money. I only told them I got a good internship and have a small business with my friends.”

“If they see my story in the media, they might feel bad because no parents wants their child to go through a lot of trouble for the family,” he added.

So far, the university has helped Inthat for over a year with tuition, medical care and personal expenses, Manager reported.