By Kim Tae-jong
Seoul National University (SNU) students made it clear Thursday that they will continue a sit-in protest occupying the school’s administrative building until the school agrees to hold talks with them.
They have occupied the building since late Monday night, demanding the withdrawal of a government-initiated plan to incorporate the school.
“We have decided to continue the protest after students approved unanimously in a vote yesterday,” the SNU student council said during a news conference Thursday. “We will wait until noon Friday.”
As to the reason behind the decision, students blamed the school’s unilateral attitude, saying, “Once we stop occupying the building, the school will not talk to us and push forward with the incorporation plan.”
Under the plan, the university will be turned into an independent entity with its own decision-making system, thus taking it out of the control of the government.
The government, however, will continue to provide the school with its budget.
The confrontation is not expected to end easily as the school has taken a strong stance that it will not talk with the students unless they stop the protest.
SNU President Oh Yeon-cheon proposed that the students stop the protest as a precondition for discussions between him and student representatives.
The sit-in started after about 500 students broke into the building through windows and sealed off its entrances. This is the second occupation of the building by students opposing the plan, following one that took place in April.
The first takeover involved the detention of President Oh and other professors in an office for hours and ended with the president’s promise that he will seek “mutually acceptable” solutions through dialogue.
Regarding the protest, a group of SNU professors also issued a statement supporting their call for the shelving of the incorporation plan.
The incorporation of the state-run university after 65 years came after the National Assembly endorsed a bill designed to prevent state intervention in the management of the school in December last year.
It aims to help raise SNU’s efficacy in operation and its global competitiveness as the school’s bureaucratic structure has harmed its global recognition, supporters of the plan said.