SNU students object to incorporation of school
Published: 09 Nov. 2009, 23:26
By An Jung-won [YONHAP]
“SNU President Lee Jang-moo’s plan for incorporating the university was hastily crafted without having the matter discussed with people in the university community,” SNU student council members said yesterday in a press conference held in front of the government complex in central Seoul. “We’re urging SNU President Lee Jang-moo to reverse plans to introduce a bill for SNU incorporation to the National Assembly, a plan devised with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, so that the university officials can discuss the matter with the university community.” The SNU student council said 79 percent of SNU students who participated in a September poll opposed the plan. The council said 8,547 out of 13,219 students cast ballots. The student council said the university sat idle even after the poll clearly showed that the majority of the university students are not happy with the plan. “The plan will increase tuition and make students neglect non-commercial academic fields, such as the humanities,” the SNU student council members said. “Student life will be largely impacted by the change if the plan is approved by the Assembly and we can’t just let our fate be decided by university and government officials.”
SNU President Lee has continuously expressed his intention to incorporate the nation’s top university. Lee has said SNU’s national university status has ensured the university’s stabilization for the past decades but that the status has also hindered the university from developing an advanced education administration, which made it harder for the school to speedily react to a rapidly changing world.
But people versed in SNU’s incorporation plans said even if the students were on board, the plan would face trouble. Unless the reform bill is passed at the National Assembly this year, there is a good chance the bill will languish, since the next Assembly in March will mostly deal with less sensitive issues ahead of local elections in May.
By Kim Mi-ju [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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