"We want to graduate safely.” This phrase, which seems matter-of-fact at first glance, decorated the campus wall poster at the West Gate on December 19, 2019. Written by the Emergency Planning Committee and the Special Committee on Safety Graduation of the School of Art and Design, the campus wall poster addressed the alleged merger crisis that the School of Art and Design is facing. Since the campus wall poster went up, the merger crisis gained immediate attention within Korea University (KU), prompting calls from students of different majors to stop the merger. With students accusing the school of the death of pure art and the school seemingly set in their decision, the conflict shows no sign of ending.
 

On December 19, 2019, the Emergency Planning Committee and the Special Committee on Safety Graduation of the School of Art and Design put up a campus wall poster titled “We want to graduate safely,” addressing what they called the school’s attempt to merge art and design within the School of Art and Design. As the name suggests, the School of Art and Design is divided into those two majors; however, according to the campus wall poster, there is only one professor left in the art department, compared to the design department, where there are seven. What is worse is that the only professor in the art department is due to retire in 2023, which leaves the students in the art department with no professor or advisor starting from the year 2023.

The wall poster continued to claim that the school did not have any plans of hiring new professors for the art department. Concerning the enquiries regarding the problem, it said that the school had replied: “Find an agreement within the department.” This, students claim, is impossible due to the proportion of professors in the design and art department being seven to one. Students claim that this response, along with other comments that the school has previously made, points to a de facto merger attempt.

The Death of Pure Art?

Students from the School of Art and Design argue that the school’s merger attempt signifies the death of pure art. They claim that the school is forcing the merger of subjects that should not be placed in a hierarchical order, implying that the school seems to view design as a superior and more necessary field than art. According to the campus wall poster, the school has claimed that they would be merging the name “School of Art and Design” into “School of Design.” At first glance, this may not seem like a significant change. However, at the root of this decision lies what students call the school’s discrimination against purely academic subjects and a brazen partiality towards vocational education.

Indeed, this merger crisis seems to be connected with the pervasive disregard for purely academic subjects and the increasing tendency in Korean society to rank different majors based on their employability rate. This is reflected in the school’s decision to include art as a “foundation course” for design. “Design, although it belongs to the territory of art, concerns the pursuit of profits, and therefore cannot embrace the entirety of art,” says Kim Ji yoon (’16, Art and Design) of the Special Committee on Safety Graduation of the School of Art and Design. She claims that dismissing art as a foundation course for design comes from the “lack of contemplation on art as an academic field… the death of pure art equals losing the essence of a university education.”

Another problem is the detrimental effect of the merger on the academic life of students. Kim Ji yoon argues that the lack of professors could hinder the graduation exhibition – one of their graduation requirements, for which an academic advisor is essential. “Even if we carry out the graduation exhibition with a new instructor, they won’t be able to fully grasp the direction of the exhibition, as someone who isn’t part of the original faculty,” she said. In addition, she implied that the merger would be a loss for the school as well. “The biggest reason KU’s School of Art and Design is preferred among others is that it offers a diverse curriculum and an opportunity to learn a wide range of art. This benefit will most likely disappear with the merger,” she said.

Strength in Numbers

As they warned in their campus wall poster, there seems to be a fear that if the school goes through with the merger of the School of Art and Design, any department or major that deals with fundamental academics could be the next to be merged. Starting with the campus wall poster from the Special Committee on Safety Graduation of the School of Art and Design and the Labor Union of KU, the merger crisis of the School of Art and Design has gained rapid and widespread attention from KU students. The subsequent solidarity shown by KU students demonstrates not only a sense of justice but also the fear that any department could be the next victim.

This has led to the Emergency Planning Committee of the School of Art and Design taking joint signatures from students against the merger, and a Provisional Student Representative Meeting regarding the merger crisis took place on 12 January. “For a community to identify and solve its own problems, an open discussion among its members is crucial. Whenever students expose the injustice of the school, the school continuously tries to isolate students. The solidarity and empathy of KU students help us face this enormous issue that concerns everyone’s educational rights,” said Kim Ji yoon regarding the importance of solidarity among students.

The Jury is Still Out

In response to the immense backlash from students against the merger, the current President of KU, Chung Jin taek, stressed the inevitability of the situation. According to the Special Committee on Safety Graduation of the School of Art and Design, he has claimed that he felt it was unfair that the merger attempt, which has been under way for decades now, had happened to take place during his term. He also added that because the merger had been planned for a long time, it was unlikely to be changed by students. The merger crisis should not be disregarded as a problem that only concerns the School of Art and Design. It being an obvious breach of educational rights, one cannot ignore the possibility that any department that deals with fundamental academics could be the next victim. At times like this, solidarity and awareness among students are crucial. It is indeed difficult to make a sea change in the school’s administrative process through student-led movements. Nevertheless, at the end of the day, it seems that students themselves are the ones who can best protect their own educational rights.