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Student-centered Facilities Management Needed
Who are the convenient facilities operated for?
By Kim Su-yeon, Tribune Reporter
Convenient facilities on campus promote a better academic environment and are an attribute for growth and development. The impact of a convenient campus lessens students’ dissatisfaction and promotes productivity. On our campus, facilities made for students’ convenience include the Student Union Buildings, club rooms available for extracurricular activities, student lounges in different colleges, seminar rooms for group discussions, and reading rooms for study sessions and the list goes on. The 2013 Research on the Actual Condition of Enrolled Students conducted by the Students Life Counseling Center at Chonnam National University (CNU) shows that the satisfaction of students regarding the facilities on campus has climbed a few notches in comparison to the previous year. But we hear the unsatisfied voices of the students mainly about the facility use rules and procedures. What is the reason behind the numbers that do not represent the real satisfaction rate of CNU students? What are the real stories of students that the administration does not understand? What are the issues faced by the facilities here at CNU and what do students think about it? This article will focus on the issues related to student facilities on campus and how to improve its state for the welfare of the students.
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The General Student Council (GSC) website shows one complaint ─ logged on April 4th, 2013 ─ of a student reporting the inconvenient regular hours of the College of Natural Sciences building 3, which is locked at 11 p.m. during weekdays and closed on the weekend. Students who do not have a student ID card with a security code for entrance into the buildings (that have reading rooms and laboratories) are only able to use the facilities during a specific time. The electricity supply is turned-off at 11 p.m. Authorities of the colleges said they have to do this to save energy. Such a situation is no different than in almost every college building such as Engineering, Business Administration and Humanities at CNU. Student Union Building 1 and 2 including the Auditorium and club rooms also have a similar problem that club rooms are closed at 10 p.m. Oh Young-eun (Sophomore, Dept. of Nursing) president of a classic guitar club, Seonyoul, said, “Our club members have been preparing for a concert, but we cannot practice after 10 p.m. From last year, the university administration banned 24 hour usage of club rooms.”
Hong Gil-hun (Junior, School of Biological Sciences and Technology), president of the CNU Club Association, said that they tried to increase regular hours so that students can use the facilities, but the university administration denied their proposal, saying that if the student facilities are open late at night, it might lead to an increase of something bad such as stealing, sexual assault and a waste of energy. However, many students insist that the management regulations have to be changed because students need to use the facilities in order to do their academic and extracurricular activities. Further, they think that the restriction of the facilities could undermine students’ right to study and use facilities on campus as a CNU student.
The Confusing Reservation System for Study Spaces
Study rooms are vital to any student especially during weeks of group presentations and projects, and students just do not have the space to do it together on campus—or are there more spaces? On campus, there are various spaces dedicated to study including seminar rooms and team study rooms. Students say that due to the way to the process of making an advance booking, space utilization is not maximized. For example, students who want to use a team study room can reserve the room in advance through the website of the Center of Teaching and Learning (CTL), but the facility management is in charge of the college administration offices. A more complicated example is the College of Social Science and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Both the colleges accept reservations from CTL if it will be used from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and it should be reserved through the college student councils if it goes beyond 4 p.m.
Other study spaces have other conditions and methods of reservation, creating confusion among the students. Booking a seminar room is even more complicated. Each college applies different rules. The College of Natural Sciences accepts reservations at the Book & Job Café located in Building 3, where you need to submit the reservation form you need for the next month during the last week of each month. The College of Business Administration on the other hand, accepts one semester reservations at the start of each semester through the college student council. Kim Ji-hoo (Junior, Dept. of Public Administration) said, “The steps are so confusing and the lack of spaces adds to the confusion of the students!”
Low Campus Cafeteria Satisfaction
The Yongbong Campus has several cafeterias for students including ones in the Student Union Building 1 and 2 and in dormitories. According to the above-mentioned survey results, 64.6% of respondents usually use off-campus restaurants, 44.9% of them do not useon-campus cafeterias. Manager of Cafeteria in the Student Union 1, Kim In-jeong said, “At most, 1,700 students have their meals in the cafeteria, but at minimum, only 900 students visit per day.” Many students answered that prices and distance are the biggest criteria for choosing a restaurant for a meal. Because meal prices are students’ key factor in choosing a restaurant, the GSC announced that from May 1st, the CNU Consumer Cooperative stopped the financial support to the cafeterias in Student Union Buildings. This reflects the fact that the cafeterias did not lower the price of the menu even after the consumer cooperative provided developmental funding to lower the prices since October 2012. Manager Kim said, “It is difficult to lower the price since we already apply the lowest unit cost. In contrast, we are trying to make new recipes every semester.” Regarding the current food prices and tastes of campus restaurants, Yang Seo-young (Sophomore, Division of Applied Bioscience and Biotechnology) said, “The price is expensive considering that it is an on-campus cafeteria. I hope the university would adjust the prices for the benefit of CNU students.”
Lack of Management Support for Female Students Facilities
Except the College of Fine Arts, each college at the Yongbong Campus has a break room for female students. However, it seems difficult to manage these spaces. Park Ji-sun, President of the General Female Student Council (GFSC), said, “Female student rest spaces are under each college’s student council. They often find such goods as pillows or blankets missing. In order to replace it, the student councils should pay for them.” In addition, some are used as storage areas rather than female students break rooms. Kang Ji-hyun (Sophomore, Dept. of Early Childhood Education) said, “Each college has very different conditions, but in the case of the College of Education, the room is too messy to actually rest in. Revamping the overall management system is needed.”
Meanwhile, we cannot put aside security for female students. For this reason, emergency bells are strategically set-up on campus to help the female students who are in need to assistance and protection. There are 13 Emergency Bells and security guards are sent to the area in less than two minutes. However, the emergency bells do not give a full sense of safety to all female students. A student from the College of Human Ecology said, “Even though more emergency bells have been installed, streets around my college are still dark and I do not feel safe at all. Above all things, it is the problem the lack of street lights.” To solve the safety problem of female students on campus, the GFSC has increased the number of voluntary night guards to protect female students and ensure safety at night. The GFSC President said that the guards will “patrol inside of college buildings, especially women’s break rooms where molesters often appear.”
Facilities Management for Students
Although the student survey shows that CNUians in general are showing moderate levels of satisfaction in using convenient facilities, problems surface in real situations. More students’ opinions should be reflected in these affairs that directly affect all students, especially on student convenient facilities. In addition, students’ suggestions and feedback ought to be given a high level of consideration. Once the lines of communication are secured, systematic development should take place to sustain the spaces for students. Only then will the student convenient facilities become truly for students.
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