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Dongduk Women's University students end three-week occupation of main building

Published: 04 Dec. 2024, 12:04

Dongduk Women's University campus painted with protest messages. [NEWS1]

Students at Dongduk Women's University on Wednesday decided to halt their three-week occupation of the school's main building.

The decision follows a statement issued by the university on Monday, urging the students to cease what it described as illegal protests and unauthorized building occupations.

"We can no longer occupy the main building as the university has ruled that it is an illegal act,” the student council at Dongduk Women's University, called Naran, said in a statement released on Wednesday morning.

The main building houses administrative offices, including the Office of Admissions and the Office of Academic Affairs. The university says these offices are crucial for managing freshman admissions and other tasks.

The student council added that they have engaged in discussions with school officials, including the university’s planning director, and agreed to hold a formal meeting to address their requests.

“We have requested a dialogue based on our proposed demands, and the meeting will be held soon,” Naran said.

Students initially began occupying the building on Nov. 11 to protest the school's discussions about possibly transitioning to a coeducational institution. Although the university and the student council had previously agreed to pause any discussions on the coed transition for now and include student representatives in any future deliberations, tensions resurfaced when the university described the council’s demands to completely abandon coed plans as “restrictive” and “self-righteous.”

BY WOO JI-WON [[email protected]]