1,973 Dongduk Women’s University students voted on coed proposal. None in favor.

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1,973 Dongduk Women’s University students voted on coed proposal. None in favor.

Published: 20 Nov. 2024, 17:46

LEE TAE-HEE
[email protected]

Dongduk Women's University students cast their votes during the general student assembly held at the university campus in Seongbuk District, northern Seoul, on Wednesday.

Around 2,000 students from Dongduk Women's University gathered for a general student assembly on Wednesday to oppose discussions of the university becoming coeducational, with no student voting in favor of the change.

The assembly was held at the university’s campus in Seongbuk District, northern Seoul, with 1,973 students in attendance. For the assembly to be official, at least 650 students, or one-tenth of the student body, needed to be present.

According to the student council, the meeting was prompted by university officials questioning whether the council’s request to halt all coed discussions was supported by the entire student body.

Since Nov. 11, students have been protesting against the university’s consideration of becoming coeducational. The university has maintained that it only discussed the change as a potential plan and did not formally present it as an agenda item.

Of the 1,973 students who attended the assembly, 1,971 voted against the coed proposal, with two abstaining.

"We plan to once again clearly express students' opposition to the university becoming coed," the student council said on Wednesday. "The university’s lack of communication is infringing on students’ rights to learn, not the students themselves."

The council plans to present the voting results to university officials on Thursday.

During the assembly, students also voted on implementing a direct election system for the university president. This proposal was part of the student council’s demands during a Nov. 12 press conference. Of 1,933 votes cast on this issue, 1,932 were in favor, with one abstention.

Ahead of the assembly, 236 university professors issued a joint statement urging students to end the class boycott and stop unlawful actions.

"Some students have been damaging campus facilities and occupying buildings, infringing on students' rights to learn and faculty’s rights to teach," the statement said. "Boycotting classes, occupying university facilities, causing damage and escalating campus conflicts into unrelated social issues need to stop."

Students have been boycotting classes since Nov. 12 in protest of the coed discussions.

The university’s alumni association also released a statement on Wednesday, urging students to “resolve the current issue through communication” and calling for a return to normalcy.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [[email protected]]