By Na Jeong-ju
A Chung-Ang University professor has been stripped of his post for sending an email criticizing one of its six vice presidents to his colleagues.
The professor, whose identity has been withheld for reasons for privacy, replied to the vice president’s emailed Lunar New Year’s message, cynically saying, “Are you a vice president of a corporation or a university? Don’t disgrace our school with your ridiculous plans and do your job properly.”
The professor said he had intended to send the reply to only the vice president, but it was mistakenly emailed to his fellow professors and school officials.
He later apologized to the school and the vice president, Prof. Seo Hun-je of the School of Law, for his rash behavior. Seo, however, asked university President Ahn Kook-shin to discipline the professor, according to school officials.
The professor faces separate punitive measures despite criticism among professors that the school is overreacting to the incident.
Last month the university’s Council of Professors issued a statement to call for Seo’s resignation and denounce Ahn’s CEO-style, profit-oriented school management.
Eventually, Seo offered to quit as vice president and the school named his successor on Thursday.
Observers say the case represents growing discontent among Chung-Ang professors over the school’s reform plans. The university has gradually introduced corporate-style management and evaluation systems since it was acquired by Doosan Group, a family-controlled conglomerate, in 2008.
In November, the school created the posts of five vice presidents after categorizing academic courses into five groups. They head the departments of humanities and social sciences, natural science and engineering, business and economics, medicine and pharmacy, as well as arts and sports sciences.
The vice presidents were given the authority to set up the yearly budget, choose professors and oversee school policies.
The new system is competition-oriented and very similar to that utilized at Doosan, according to the professors’ council.
“For the past few months, we’ve called on the school to stop the unilateral restructuring and address the lack of communication, but it has refused to listen,” a professor said. “The managing professors act like executives of a firm and treat us like employees.