Night college fiasco
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By Park Yoon-bae
Deputy managing editor
Ewha Womans University students are continuing their sit-in to call for the resignation of President Choi Kyung-hee even after she scrapped a controversial plan to create a night college for working women.
The plan prompted the students to start the sit-in on July 28 after the university obtained approval from the Ministry of Education for the college.
As parents, professors and Ewha alumni supported the students and public opinion turned against the school, Choi withdrew the plan. But the students have come up with a new demand that she step down, taking responsibility for “unilaterally” pushing for the plan.
What has made the students angry is the government-supported night college program for lifelong education, which they claim would inevitably damage the reputation of the country’s top women’s university.
Their concern is that their pride could be hurt by admissions of working women with high school diplomas who they think are not smart enough to enter top-ranking Seoul-based institutions like Ewha.
It is not only a matter of pride as the students also fear that the university may have to compromise its academic integrity with the night college plan. They even “locked up” a handful of professors and school staff.
The lockup led to the dispatch of 1,600 policemen who came to the rescue of the “hostages” at the request of President Choi. This has invited a criticism that the university went too far in fixing the situation.
The episode laid bare elitism that runs deep in the minds of Ewha students who regard themselves as “pure blood” who got into the university through fierce competition.
There is little doubt that they don’t want working women to enter Ewha easily without going through backbreaking competition. Under the state-initiated night college program, working people, particularly vocational high school graduates, are allowed to go to college without taking the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT).
The Ewha students accused the school authorities of trying to “sell diplomas” to working women who they claim are not qualified for academic courses. They dismissed the night college’s purpose of giving educational opportunities for workers.
In this regard, the students may not avoid criticism for their exclusive elitism because they refuse to share educational opportunities with those who are “less smart” or underprivileged.
However, this does not necessary mean that the students should be hold accountable for the night college fiasco.
In a nutshell, the school administration should take all the responsibility since it pushed the plan without reaching a consensus on the issue with students, faculty and alumni.
Ewha Womans University triggered a backlash by ignoring students’ opposition to the night college project and recklessly and unilaterally pushing for it. Its sole interest seemed to receive 3 billion won in state subsidies.
The students’ grudge has already reached its peak when it won other state-aided projects such as the Program for Industrial Needs-Matched Education (PRIME) and the Initiative for College of Humanities’ Research and Education (CORE) early this year.
Now is the time for the university to make the utmost efforts to communicate better with students to avoid the repetition of the dispute because a lack of communication sows the seeds of misunderstanding and conflict.
More than anything else, education policymakers have to learn a lesson from the Ewha case. They need to admit that many government-sponsored programs have caused troubles at universities.
For example, the PRIME project brought about conflicts in some tertiary institutions, including Kyunghee, Konkuk, Kookmin, Sungshin Women’s and Inha universities, as humanities and social science students opposed a reduction in their enrollment quota to create new engineering departments which are design to meet industrial demand.
Announcing the beneficiaries of the PRIME project in May, the Ministry of Education committed to providing from 5 billion won to 15 billion won to 21 universities. In March, the ministry disclosed the list of 16 universities which will get up to 3.7 billion won each under the CORE project.
Then, the ministry hurriedly selected six universities for the night college project in May and an additional four universities including Ewha and Dongguk University last month. Dongguk students also staged a protest against the project, denouncing the government for pressuring the university to participate in it.
The ministry has already been criticized for trying to control universities through the provision of funds, although it said the projects are aimed at encouraging their restructuring.
Policymakers should overhaul the state-initiated projects and set a new formula to promote the reform of universities which face a looming crisis in the information era. This task is easier said than done as many universities just wants to live on life support from the government without changing themselves.