▲ Park Kyung-Eun (daisypark94@korea.ac.kr) Junior Reporter, The Granite Tower (GT)

When Hyundai Motor Business Hall was first built on the campus, many students at Korea University (KU) were proud and excited to see the splendid modern architecture nearby. Soon after, however, it was learned that not all students could benefit from the facilities. With all of us being students of KU, is it fair not to have the equal right to make use of certain parts of the campus?

Hyundai Motor Business Hall, whose construction was completed last semester, is a huge building consisting of four stories underground and five stories above ground. In the building, there are about 50 rooms provided for students to study or do team projects. It is possible for students to use these contemporarily styled rooms by simply reserving them through the KU portal site. However, such a system, which seems quite ideal, is only available to students who major in Business Administration.

It is definitely awkward to give exclusive rights for reservation to the students of the Business School. As students who attend the same school equally paying tuition fees, they should be provided with the opportunities to benefit from all campus facilities as well. In fact, such a system does create a sense of disharmony among students who share the same campus. It may even make students of other departments feel a sense of less importance.  

According to the school, the reservation system and equipment such as televisions are not perfectly set up yet for every student to use. In 2013, it was reported that effort would be made to open the building to students of other departments. However, there has been no progress so far. 

The school could have possibly taken a more prudent approach such as giving priority rights, instead of exclusive rights, of reservation to the students in the Business School. The current system, which actually prohibits other students from reserving study rooms, is quite extreme.

Setting boundaries between different departments is particularly hard to accept because it is not the most common practice at KU. Although most of the buildings belong to particular departments, students from the whole campus share them to take lectures or to study. Moreover, as there are few substitutable places that serve the similar functions as Hyundai Motor Business Hall study rooms, students are feeling even more dissatisfied.  

Within the campus, it is not only the Hyundai Motor Business Hall that is excluding students from other departments. In fact, Media Hall also does not allow other students to enter the building after 11 P.M for security reasons. According to the school, Media Hall is exposed to more danger in particular, because it is located at the outer rim of the campus. Thus, students from School of Art and Design and School of Media and Communication can only enter there by showing their student ID cards at the entrance. People who double major in such fields can also get permission to enter the building.

In contrast, other people may be taken aback after trying to open the door and failing. Therefore, they merely hang around the entrance not knowing what to do. Students not being able to enter the buildings within the campus just because they belong to other departments, is certainly a form of discrimination. With equal rights provided to all students, it would be possible to attain greater harmony and satisfaction within KU.