Since December 7, the 51st Korea University Student Union (KUSU) was led by SYNERGY. The two candidates, Kim Kayoung (’13, Life Sciences) and Lee Jinwoo (’16, Sociology), became President and Vice President of KUSU, respectively. SYNERGY attracted many people’s attention with President Kim and Vice President Lee’s resolution: changes that will be made beside you . Therefore, many Korea University (KU) students expected SYNERGY to solve the problem of communication between KUSU and KU students, which has been pointed out every year. As the term of office of SYNERGY ended on December 20, 2019, it is an appropriate point to glance back at the trace of SYNERGY in KU and evaluate the policies. Evaluating the disappointing points can be a good opportunity to provide the right direction and a good example to reflect on for the future Emergency Central Steering Committee (ECSC) or KUSU.
A press conference that argued for the correct enforcement of the Instruction Act was held by KUSU and KU on February 15, 2019. The number of lectures that were conducted by instructors in KU has decreased, violating the right to education of KU students. Through this event KUSU could show their willingness to solve the unwarrantable problem by standing alongside KU students, and students could acknowledge the seriousness of the situation that they had faced and unite to urge the rightful implementation of the Instruction Act. The press conference was held again on July 24, 2019, which clearly shows the firm willingness and action taken by KUSU.
On February 8, 2019, the Faculty Senate of Korea University (FSKU) issued a newsletter that exposed the academic dishonesty of KU President Chung Jin
Taek, when he was conducting research as a professor. FSKU announced that this fact was revealed after the meeting with KUSU and KU Graduate School Student Union (KUGSSU) on January 3, 2019. On the other hand, KUSU declared this newsletter as false news because the last meeting with the president of FSKU was held on January 2, 2019. Because FSKU trampled KU students’ right to know the truth, KUSU published a campus wall poster on the West Gate to refute FSKU’s claim. KUSU insisted that FSKU should respect KU students and stop using them as a political tool.
Looking into the Unfinished Businesses in KU
On April 7, 2019, a campus wall poster was published on the West Gate, which alleged peculation of public funds by the former President of Central Executive Committee, who was also working as the president of KUSU at that point. It was argued that peculation of public funds happened when Kim handled the scholarship that should be distributed to the members of Central Steering Committee (CSC). Of course, many students asked president Kim whether the contents written on the campus wall poster were true. Even though many KU students wanted to know the truth, president Kim did not apologize or refute the claim. By not answering to suspicion, President Kim minimized the controversy about whether the rumor was true or not. KU students had no choice but to terminate the argument.
In the case of Cho Kuk, a previous senior presidential secretary for civil affairs nominated to become a minister of justice, numerous controversies were brought up in society. One of the controversies was about Cho Min, the daughter of Cho Kuk, illicitly enrolling in K U. Controversy about illegal enrollment soon turned out to be a case of corruption in the Office of Admissions, as many people related to the Department of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering provided proof that it was impossible for Cho Min to enter KU with her ability. KU students were outraged by the fact that the corruption occurred in KU’s Office of Admissions.
At that point, KU students had questions for KUSU because KUSU did not respond or act regarding the corruption in the Office of Admissions. As KU students’ dissatisfaction towards KUSU increased, KUSU published a campus wall poster on the West Gate. However, KU students expressed anger after the wall poster was posted, because the stance of KUSU was obscure and KUSU added an inappropriate sentence that could be misunderstood as KUSU supporting Cho Kuk. Due to the immature response of KUSU to the situation, many KU students signed for an impeachment of SYNERGY from KUSU, which became the biggest story about SYNERGY during the span of one year. Lost trust could not be restored until the end of SYNERGY’s term as KUSU.
Moving Forward from the Past may Become Blessing in Disguise
The head of current ECSC, Kim Minsu, pointed out several problems that SYNERGY showed last year. It is undeniable that SYNERGY wellrepresented the needs of KU students, such as adopting vegan food in student cafeteria and denouncing the accounting irregularity of KU. However, the most crucial thing that
SYNERGY neglected to fulfill was communication with KU students. Lack of communication led SYNERGY to act without reflecting the voice of KU students. Kim indicated that SYNERGY actually carried out several policies or acts that could not be understood by KU students, by emotionally responding to significant incidents, especially regarding Cho Min’s illicit enrollment in KU.
On the other hand, Kim added the point that it is also important for students to change in order to expect a higher quality of KUSU in the future. It is crucial for KU students to cooperate with KUSU to achieve higher goals inside the university, but it is hard to expect cooperation because students nowadays tend to have a more selfcentered perspective.
It is important to focus on several problems that SYNERGY caused as they led KUSU for one year. It is an undebatable fact that KU students stopped supporting SYNERGY after the situation regarding corruption in the Office of Admissions. Nevertheless, one year of SYNERGY leading KUSU provided precedent to KU students that communication between KUSU and KU students is crucial and should be expected of future KUSU. The expectation of quality that KU students have towards upcoming KUSU increased, which means that future KUSU should show high quality performance that can satisfy KU students. However, SYNERGY made KU students realize that cooperation between KUSU and students is significant. SYNERGY caused several ups and downs, but from SYNERGY we take away meaningful insights.