Kim Geon-jung, the former vice chairperson of General Student Council (GSC) has been suspended for an indefinite period from school. Dongguk University announced that the reason of the disciplinary action was that Kim destroyed enrolled students’ name list.
The former 47th GSC, “Baek-bal-baek-joong,” received the name list from the Office of Student Services, which was needed to check students who attended the Students’ General Meeting held on September 17th, 2015. Through the Students’ General Meeting, the agenda related to resignation of President Han Tae-sik (Bogwang) and Ven Ilmyun Sunim, the then chairman of the board of directors was passed. After the Students’ General Meeting, Kim destroyed the name list without returning it.
Choi Ho-jin, the section chief of the Office of Student Service said, “Verification of whether the Students’ General Meeting has been accomplished or not is impossible without the students’ name list.” He added, “Destroying the name list applies to damaging school property and violation of personal information protection.”
Kim explained that he was meant to relieve the students’ anxiety regarding the disadvantage of participating in the Students’ General Meeting. He said, “There were students who felt uneasy for involving the Meeting and I promised that students would never suffer from disadvantages for taking part in the Meeting.”
In this regard, Choi commented, “The school did not intend to obstruct the Meeting and give students disadvantages. It is not possible to punish more than 2,000 students.”
Kim also mentioned the uncertainness of the basis of the disciplinary action. He said, “The information of students was not leaked actually,” and added, “the degree of the disciplinary measure, the indefinite suspension, is not accurately connected to the school regulation applied to this action.”