Yonsei students up in arms over admissions controversies

Students at Yonsei University in Seodaemun, western Seoul, hold a rally on campus, demanding the school refund part of their tuition, in this June 18 photo. Yonhap

By Bahk Eun-ji

Students of Yonsei University are increasingly angry over allegations surrounding the admission of the daughter of one of the university's former vice presidents into a graduate school. Many are particularly outraged as the case follows former Justice Minister Cho Kuk's son's unlawful academic privileges to the university, which has been criticized for abusing its high-profile status amid worsening social class divisions.

In particular, six professors of the school were reported to have been involved in the illegal admission of former Vice President Lee Kyung-tae's daughter, which led to increased outrage. Students have denounced the high-profile figures abusing their social status to give their children an unfair advantage.

The students' move has come as the Ministry of Education (MOE) announced the results of the first comprehensive audit of Yonsei University, one of the nation's most prestigious universities in Seoul, last Tuesday. In the results, Yonsei received 86 comments including some professors' uncontrolled use of corporate credit cards at entertainment facilities such as singing rooms, but what was most criticized was the allegation over Lee's daughter's admission to a graduate school.

According to the MOE, the six professors who worked on the university's evaluation committee in 2016 were found to have fabricated the score of Lee's daughter's oral test in order to admit her to the university's graduate school of business. At that time, Lee's daughter was ninth among 16 applicants in the documents screening, but she was later found to have passed the oral test with a perfect score of 100.

On the other hand, the top two applicants in document evaluation were eliminated after receiving 47 points and 63 points respectively in the oral test. Lee served as vice president of the university's international campus in Incheon's Songdo in 2016.

When the results of the audit were revealed, a petition was posted on a bulletin board of the university student council with the title “Demand for solutions to various irregularities revealed in the audit.”

“This went too far. Truth and Freedom, the motto of the school, is just a false facade? We are calling for strong punishment of the professors involved in this case,” the petition said.

“This should not end with administrative disposition of just a few professors. Instead, the school should show a stern move to fundamentally solve such institutional problems.”

In response, the student council replied, “We have announced the convening of a committee to discuss future responses while recognizing the seriousness of the audit results.” The committee is expected to be held Monday.

Previously, Yonsei was at the center of controversy over Cho's son's admission to a graduate school. Last September, Rep. Kwak Sang-do of the main opposition United Future Party claimed Cho's son received a certificate for an internship program in July 2013 when he was in high school, despite not having participated in the program run by the Public Human Rights Law Center of Seoul National University, where Cho worked at the time.

Later, he was accepted to the graduate school of Yonsei University allegedly because of the certificate. In response, Seoul National University announced its official statement and claimed there is no such record of his participation. The prosecution conducted a search at Yonsei, but all of the data and documents related to admissions at that time had been deleted.