Seoul National University mired in Siheung campus conflict
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Seoul National University staff members scuffle with students who staged a sit-in at the school’s main building in southern Seoul, March 11, in protest of a plan to create a new campus in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province. The staff pulled the students out of the building which they had been occupying for over five months. / Korea Times file
By Kim Bo-eun
Students at the nation’s top university are at loggerheads with the school over a plan to build a new campus in the city of Siheung, Gyeonggi Province. Seoul National University’s (SNU) plan to build a larger campus with leading research facilities, drawn up a decade ago, has met with fierce opposition from students who claim it is excessively commercial.
Last August, SNU and the Siheung city government signed an agreement for the city to shoulder the costs of land and construction for a new campus there. The local government has reportedly provided a site spanning over 660,000 square meters and will bear around 450 billion won ($404 million) in infrastructure costs.
Meanwhile, a development project to build a large-scale apartment complex in the area was finalized with SNU’s approval to build its Siheung campus. Promotion of SNU’s new campus has helped the sale of newly built apartment units there at higher prices than would otherwise have been sold, as parents believe the campus of the prestigious school will create a favorable academic environment there.
Students began a sit-in at the school’s administrative building in October to protest the plan. The sit-in lasted 153 days until the school mobilized 400 staffers to break it up on March 11. In the process, fire extinguishers were used between students and staff and the scuffle resulted in physical injuries.
Although students no longer occupy the building, they have set up a tent outside to continue their protest. The school newspaper’s front page was published blank for its March 13 edition, for the first time in the paper’s 65-year history, in protest of what student reporters claimed was the school’s request to minimize reporting on the conflict surrounding the new campus. The dean of student affairs resigned the following week for failing to mediate, but calls are growing for school president Sung Nak-in to step down over his responsibility in pushing forward with the plan.
“The school trampled on the students’ resistance to the Siheung campus plan, which was pushed forward in an undemocratic and pro-business stance,” students said in a protest on March 20.
The student body collected over 5,000 signatures from students in support of Sung’s resignation. They are set to hold a student meeting next month to discuss future plans.
A road in Baegot, a new development area in Siheung, is marked as Seouldaehak-ro _ or Seoul National University Road _ ahead of the construction of the school's new campus, which was slated to begin in the latter half of this year. / Yonhap
Uncertain future
The school’s initial plan was to build a residential campus in Siheung, but following strong resistance from students, it has decided not to require undergraduates to study there.
The construction of the campus was set to begin in the latter half of this year, with aims to open for the spring semester next year. However, the prolonged strife over the plan has slowed down its progress.
Still, a school official requesting anonymity said the plan cannot be nullified.
“We cannot scrap the plan, which was designed a decade ago,” he said. The blueprint for a new “global” campus was first created in 2007.
“The existing Gwanak campus was built in 1975. We need to seek a new research environment which can enable research in cutting-edge sectors,” he said.
The official also noted that SNU’s transition into a corporate body in 2011 has reduced state funding.
“We need to find ways to secure funds. As local government’s investment is an option,” he said.
“The problem is that students are focusing excessively on the commercial aspect of the plan, while overlooking the contributions to the public the new campus can make, by infrastructure such as hospitals.”
In order to resolve the conflict, the official said the school is reviewing enabling students to take part in the committee in charge of the Siheung campus plan, but it remains to be seen whether students will accept this proposal.