Since March, there have been a lot of posts criticizing the General Student Council (GSC) on Everytime, the online community of school. The reason why they have been criticized was not just for one or two mistakes. The first reason the GSC was criticized is due to a rumor that the unofficial meeting of them was held at the school in January despite social distancing. Although it was not confirmed whether it is true or not, the rumors spread quickly through the community and the students demanded the truth from the GSC. However, they have not yet responded to this.
It was on February 19th that the students felt even angrier after the GSC uploaded a memorial post for an activist, which can be politically controversial. At the fact that they memorialize him with the school’s name, some students even showed antipathy toward the GSC. Shin, a junior, said, “Even if it was a mistake, how could the representative of our school think that carelessly? Besides, I felt even more disappointed in them for not following the quarantine rules.” As she said, despite the ban on gathering of more than five people, more than six people attended the memorial ceremony and one of them was not properly wearing a face mask.
The biggest disappointment and anger about the GSC occurred during the course registration correction period in early March. There were many demands from students to increase the quotas of some courses that students have to take before graduation. Then, the GSC said that it was possible to increase the quotas a little more due to non-face-to-face environment. In addition, they announced that there would be increase in the quota of all mandatory courses and some major courses with high demand as the result of the discussion with the school. However, there was no increase in quota of some compulsory subjects such as EAS. Also, the standard of “high demand” was not properly presented and courses of some department such as Business School, which have a small quota originally, had no change in the quota. As to this, the GSC said, although they discussed with the school well, talk between the school and professors of those courses did not go well. In the end, the quota of those courses was not increased properly. Even, some major courses with high demand were hardly mentioned.
The real problem is that the GSC did not make a proper announcement. On the last day of the course registration correction period, they made a notice about 20 minutes before the correction was completed. Shin also added, “The GSC used the word ‘confirm’ when they made announcement. But it was not ‘confirmed,’ literally. Students know that there also was school’s fault. However, I think the GSC should be more careful and should apologize to the students who tried to take those courses.” She also emphasized the role and responsibility of the GSC, asking them to solve the real problems instead of just saying that they would do better next time.
Other than these problems, there are also small and big problems that the GSC has caused such as controversy over the Bio-medi Campus. Shin said, “I hope the GSC does not make students feel uncomfortable by taking care of their work well.”