In greeting the New Year, the Chonnam Tribune had an in-depth interview with newly elected Park Han-kyun, President of the 37th General Student Council (GSC). After winning the GSC presidency, he seemed to be busy meeting with the executive members of all departments. Chonnam Tribune had an interview with him and asked him about his future plans. – Ed.

Impression on Winning the GSC Presidency 

   At first I felt burdensome when I was called as president of the GSC. Yet, I was so happy about winning the GSC Presidency and I expressed gratitude to fellow students. I’d like to make a success of this undertaking and proudly continue the established reputation and tradition as the GSC president. I still remember when I met fellow students in person while doing an election campaign. I tried to listen to their frank opinions and in doing so, I was able to come closer to them. I’d like to thank the professors who allowed each presidential candidate to make speeches in their class. And I also want to thank the freshmen who eagerly canvassed for me.

 

On the Promotion of Students’ Welfare 

   First of all, as the 36th GSC conducted a variety of actions to promote the students’ welfare like the management of Rental Service Center (the center to rent digital goods for free), the 37th GSC will keep going with that policy, too. After evaluating other welfare undertakings that the 36th GSC conducted, we will strengthen and extend the welfare programs in our own different and unique way. 

We are designing a program about Cultural Art and Current Events and planning to offer it as curriculum starting in the second term. The comprehensive, concrete plans of students’ welfare programs are going to come out after the winter vacation.

 

Cooperation with the Main Office

 

   It is indicated that most of the campaign pledges of the 37th GSC can be carried out only with the assistance of the Main Office. Let me explain how the three pledges are progressing, namely Sandwich Courses, the Credit Cancellation System and the Democratic Payment System. What we call ‘Sandwich Courses’ are a sort of industrial-educational cooperation training program. The ‘Credit Cancellation System’ is relevant if you want to cancel an acquired credit of a subject that you’ve already taken.  If you repeat the course, the designated credit disappears from your academic records. Finally, the ‘Democratic Payment System’ is designed so that students don’t pay tuition fees to the university, but to the GSC, in case of a rise in tuition fees.

 

The Main Office has already secured 3.3 billion won for the ‘Sandwich Course’ program in the Development Fund. As for the Sandwich Course program, we discussed this issue with the Main Office. The university answered in the affirmative as concerned with the improvement in employment rate of CNU students. For the establishment of the ‘Credit Cancellation System,’ we will take steps as follows: First of all, we will perform a case study with the subjects of other universities that are enacting the ‘Credit Cancellation System’ including Chosun University. Next, we will perform a survey to research the opinions of CNU students. And then, we will demand assistance and cooperation of the Main Office. The Main Office declined to approve the enforcement plan of a ‘Credit Cancellation System’ at this time, because they have concerns about the abuse of it. In my opinion, the system will be approved by the university only if the maximum limit of the cancellation is fixed to six credits.

 

The discussion on ‘Sandwich Courses’ and the ‘Credit Cancellation System’ has been making rapid progress, but the ‘Democratic Payment’ is an exception. We will endeavor to reach an agreement with the university by continuing to argue against raising the tuition fees. In case we can’t find a solution to the problem, the last measure we can do is to enforce the Democratic Payment System unilaterally. We did a sign-in during the election campaign, and 1,300 students signed in favor of the introduction of a Democratic Payment System. We will send a letter to the students, as well as to every student after we appeal to each college for joining the struggle to freeze tuition fees.

 

Political, but Comfortable GSC

 

   The 37th GSC should balance political matters with welfare works. I know that the students hesitate to be involved due to dedication to their personal study or to their future career, although the majority of students are interested in the current issues and want to speak about their opinions on political matters. While the 37th GSC gave the students a boost by holding a big event on December 13th, it informed students of the abolition of the National Security Law. As it shows, we will serve a cup of tea with political slogans printed on them. We will lead fellow students to engage in and become informed about political matters in real life. In this practical way, the 37th GSC will harmonize political matters with welfare works. It can be connected with the motto of 37th GSC.

In addition, I will make an effort to search for a positive direction for the current student movement and to lead it to be future-oriented. In strengthening the bond between the 20,000 students at CNU, we are going to lay the foundation to search for the answers and to share the problems to be worked out as intellectuals.

 

New Year’s Message to the CNU Students

 

   I’ll keep the criticisms and the advice given during the election campaign in mind. The year 2005 will find me carrying out my campaign pledges and listening to my fellow students with my sincere and open heart. Woori GSC will seek to do its best for CNU students. I wish you a happy New Year and hope you are all well.

 

 

저작권자 © Chonnam Tribune 무단전재 및 재배포 금지