Students at Chonnam National University (CNU) are more satisfied with the university’s facilities for students than last year, according to the result of the annual CNU’s Student Satisfaction Survey (SSA) released on March 16. However, they are still complaining about a shortage of space for student activities on campus. Many students go to the café because it is hard to find a proper place to do their team projects. The Chonnam Tribune looked into the inconvenience that students experience while using those facilities and listened to their opinions about the problems. 

Cramped Club Rooms

CNU has a variety of student clubs, but not all of them are given adequate space to fit all of their members. That is why many students do not feel comfortable while joining their club activities. The result of the 2022 SSA showed that students had a low level of satisfaction overall with the size and number of the club rooms. Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC) has over 230 members, but its two club rooms can accommodate up to 40 students. They usually have meetings for club activities in a multi-purpose room or the lounge in the Student Union 1 building. CCC President, Seong Chan-woo (Senior, School of Mechanical Engineering) said, “Our members are reluctant to visit the club rooms due to the cramped club rooms, so we can barely meet each other.”

This is not only a problem for CCC. “Byeolttaogi,” an astronomical observation club, has 132 members, but its club room can fit only about eight people. An executive member Jeong Seung-eun (Second Year, Dept. of Pharmacy) said, “There is not enough space to store telescopes and related items in our club room. It has caused inconvenience to club members. We have 14 executive members, but they are not all able to sit at the meeting table at the same time for an executive meeting, so some members have no choice but to sit on the floor in the room.”

The General Student Club Association President Lee Young-ju (Junior, Dept. of Chinese Language and Literature) said about the problem, “It is not possible to expand those club rooms because the Student Union buildings have already been remodeled. But we will clarify the reasons for the cramped space for student clubs and reallocate the rooms rationally.” A staff member in charge of student club activities in the Office of Student Affairs said, “This problem has been mentioned frequently in administrative meetings. We have discussed this with the Office of Planning and Coordination, but it is hard to find a solution since empty space for student clubs does not exist in either the Student Union 1 or 2 building. This problem cannot get resolved quickly.”

Lack of Space for Student Activities

Students have talked about the dissatisfaction with each college’s place for student activities. One of the leading causes of their dissatisfaction is lack of space. The SSA revealed that respondents said as follows: ”Student conference rooms in some colleges are so cramped.” “Other colleges do not have any place for student activities.” ”My college’s student lounge is too small for the number of students.” ”College club rooms are too few for the number of student clubs, so several college clubs share a club room together.” Especially, there were many complaints among students from the College of Business Administration (CBA) and the College of AI Convergence (CAIC). The percentage of respondents who were not satisfied with student space in those college buildings occupied about half of the total response.

The CBA has 32 student clubs, but only three clubs have their own rooms and its only student lounge is usually overcrowded. Welfare Head of the CBA Student Council Kwon Yu-kyeong (Sophomore, Faculty of Business Administration) said, “The CBA’s only student lounge is too cramped, so students go to the Jeongbomaru or coffee shops to do a team project or get some rest with friends. Now the college does not have spaces available for students in its buildings. So, we provided discount coupons of Beans to Coffee, which is a café near the CBA buildings, to students who visited the college library but could not use the place during the midterm examinations. We try to collaborate with other cafés near the college buildings.”

The situation in the CAIC is similar to what it was in the CBA. The CAIC building has a place for its student council, but there is no place for each department’s student council and student clubs. Therefore, CAIC students have to use classrooms, a student lounge, and so on. The only student lounge on the third floor of the college building is more constricted than student lounges of other colleges. The CAIC Student Council member said, “The CAIC building is so small that there is a problem of space for student activities. We requested more space for students, but the college administration replied that it would be impossible to provide extra spaces for students because of the absence of space. New students have entered our college since 2021. When more freshmen enroll in the future, the space problems will become bigger. We continue to try to solve this problem.”

Towards Student-Centered Campus

Space shortage for student activities on campus is one of challenges that the university is facing and trying to resolve. It is important to enhance the quality of students’ daily lives on campus. The SSA and interviews showed that many students do not find an appropriate space for studying and doing academic and extracurricular activities at the university. Consequently, they are studying or doing activities using external facilities around the university because of the lack of space for student activities. The best way to make more space for student activities is to remodel buildings or construct new buildings. However, it is difficult due to the problems of budgets and spaces. Nevertheless, the Administration Headquarters must try to improve the campus life of students by making effective and efficient solutions for the student space shortage problem. In order to make it happen, students need to be more active when it comes to suggesting ideas to the university, which should also listen to their opinions.