March, 2014

  Frozen tuition

   After a long debate, Yonsei University finally decided to freeze tuition for 2014. At the 5th Tuition Deliberation Committee, which was held in order to find a common ground on tuition, students demanded that the school lowers tuition, whereas the school insisted on raising the tuition fee. However, because there were no signs of solving the disagreement over tuition fee, the negotiation between students and the university broke down. On Jan. 22, 2014, Students’ Union held a press conference to criticize university’s unilateral decision on freezing tuition fee. Furthermore, they called upon the government to amend the Private School Law so that the Tuition Deliberation Committee is made to allow higher proportion of students to participate in deciding the tuition fee. Under the current Private School Law, the opinions of the students on tuition fee are not properly reflected because it only requires 30% of committee members to be composed of students. Moreover, Students’ Union added that the school foundation invests more than 70 billion won as construction cost every year, when there has been no financial investment to solve the problem of overpriced tuition. Despite the students’ efforts, Yonsei University’s yearly average tuition fee for 2014 was frozen with 8.52 million won which is the highest tuition estimate among Seoul-located private universities. 

 

 

The establishment of University Senate

On February 7, the Board of Corporate Directors of Yonsei University finally approved the establishment of University Senate. University Senate is a deliberative body that reviews important issues within the university, such as the university developmental plans, enactment and amendment of school regulations and the management of university curriculum. Though each university has been required to establish University Senate by the Private School Law since 2005, Yonsei University had been one of the few universities that showed reluctance in creating one. The Ministry of Education, however, announced on February 5 that universities without University Senate will be given penalty at the university assessment. The Ministry of Education has been putting increasing emphasis on the creation of University Senate because it allows the university society to be a more democratic one. With a University Senate in place, a university cannot make unilateral decisions by itself; all members of the university are able to voice their opinions in the decision making process. According to Solution,  the current Students’ Union, it welcomes the establishment of University Senate, which is the result of continuous demand by previous Students’ Unions, the committee of professors and the faculty union. At the same time, Solution promises that it will continuously watch over the University Senate so that it functions properly, as a part of democratic procedure.

 

The first trial of Pre-enrollment System

           One of the hundred election pledges the Students’ Union Solution made was the pre-enrollment system. The purpose of this system was to help the school grasp an understanding of the actual number of students registering for certain major classes, in order to control the number of TOs. The trial for the pre-enrollment occurred for four days, from February 2nd to 5th, for students in College of Business & Econ., in the Dept. of Korean Language & Lit. and Dept. of Psychology under the College of Liberal Arts, in the Dept of Political Science & Int. Studies and Dept. of Sociology under the College of Social Science and College of Communication. According to one student in the Dept. of Psychology, who requested to remain anonymous, this system is a positive and prospective one, for those who are not able to register for classes under their own majors due to the shortage of spots in classes. This way, the department office will be notified that more spots are desperately needed. Perhaps Solution must take this trial as a chance to improve next time, so that more precise numbers can be calculated and added to classes. 

 

Irregular workers’ declare for human rights

   Amongst the orientation ceremony for newly accepted freshmen, there were irregular laborers who were on a severe demonstration. They were protesting against the school for improved working conditions and more payment. According to the demonstrators, the amount of money they received was even lower than the minimum wage set by the government. Furthermore, they asserted that they should be allowed to eat and rest with dignity, asking for better dining and resting places. Last but not least, the workers claimed that the hiring company is not the only one to be blamed, but also the school and Severance Hospital. They are responsible for the mistreatment the irregular laborers received, and hence should actively engage in the matter to come up with resolutions. The workers were determined to secure their rights, as one of the protestors claimed that they would not cease to struggle, until their demands are taken into consideration.

 
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