▲ Yeom Jong-min. the President of Student Council in Cheonan campus.

▲ Ko Eun-chong. the President of Student Council in Jukjeon campus.

One semester has passed since the two new student councils at Jukjeon and Cheonan campuses have taken over. Their goal was to solve the problems we face at school by making it a better place. The student council at Jukejeon
campus, known as ‘Dookeun-dookeun Plus’, made a variety of promises to win the support of fellow Dankookians. They promised to improve undergraduate institutions, to offer administration free freshmen orientation (OT), greater festival security, and reasonable tuition policies. The student council at Cheonan, known as ‘Han-ul’, made a pledge to improve student welfare. They promised to cut college tuition rates, install full screens in classrooms, improve the coverage of wireless LAN on campus, improve the cafeteria, and expand the number of overseas volunteer activities available. The Dankook Herald (DKH) met with the Presidents of the student councils at Jukjeon and Cheonan campuses to check on their progress at achieving these objectives.

First, DKH interviewed Ko Eun-chong (junior, Dept. of Political Science and International Relations), the President of the Jukjeon student council. “First of all, we put together a team to fully take charge of our school system. The team worked hard to develop a plan to improve the school grading system. Then we discussed our proposed improvement plan with the academic team leader. At the end of our meeting, we were able to eliminate the grading system that imposed a mandatory ‘D’ or ‘F’ grade,” she said about the issues they handled relating to unilateral school reforms. The student council contacted the adminstration in the hopes of putting an end to the coercive grading system proposed by the Government and the Ministry of Education. “We delivered the voice of Dankookians directly to those in charge on behalf of those who suffered heplessly from the coercive school systems,”she said.

She also talked about their pledge to make OT free from adminstration by universiofficials. “We achieved a short-term goal, which was put in place before the start of the new semester. While we are not yet free in policies, we are still trying and working hard continuously towards our goal of a fully student self-governing OT.” Over the years, university administration has gradually replaced or modified OT, which is supposed to operate as a students’ selfgoverned activity. While the goal has not yet been fully met, the president argued, “The pledge was that we guaranteed a free OT and the 2014 OT took place without incident.”

We questioned their commitment to fixing reasonable tuition fees. “We requested the main budget bill and the final balance sheet of the 2011-2013 for analysis. We pointed out problems areas of overpriced and excessive use of funds for unnecessary items,” she mentioned. DKH observed that they worked hard to push forward the message of not using tuition fees in vain.

Through the interview DKH could see that the Jukjeon student council has done a great deal for students. With regards to the pledge about improving our festival culture, she described a plan for a volunteer campaign for safety issues during festivals. In addition, she said “We succeeded in revising the pension plan too. Pension monies will be used in the expansion of the 2014 scholarships program.”

At the end of the interview, DKH asked how their Facebook page has been working to address student questions and for the delivery of new information. “We received and resolved several questions through the posts and notes often on Facebook.”

Next, DKH interviewed the student council of Cheonan Campus. They made six promises to Dankookians. Most promises were wellkept, but some were not. First, we interviewed Yeom Jong-min (senior, Dept. of Sports Management), President of ‘Han-ul’ student Council. He talked about tuition fees and scholarships saying, “It is the most important issue for Dankookians. We want to decrease tuition rates by 0.3% and expand scholarships by 1.5%. However, a lot still needs to be done to achieve this objective,” he said.

As for the commitment to WiFi Zone improvement, “The student council improved WiFi access in classrooms that are frequently used by Dankookians. WiFi coverage has improved,” he said. They also pledged to increase the number of global volunteering opportunities for more Dankookians. “We will volunteer in Myanmar in summer as well as winter,” he said. They promised to improve facilities and build a better school system. However, there are still no full screens in classrooms. Instead, the student council improved the quality of chairs in the library, installed televisions for promotions and a manless delivery system.
 

Our cafeteria, called the ‘bear-house,’ and the cafe, have both been updated since 2014. This was one of their promises they achieved. However, it was sad that the improvements were limited in these facilities. Dankookians complaints about the menu have yet to be resolved. The President of Cheonan campus student council said, “Although the student council has achieved many things for Dankookians through countless meetings, there are limits to what we can accomplish quickly. I hope Dankookians will get involved and share their opinions more actively, so that together we can make a better university. We will try to provide students with more information and communicate with them more closely,” he said as his aspiration.
 

Through these interviews, we learned how the Jukjeon campus student council kept their promises. They have gained a good profile due to constant communication with Dankookians. They even found a solution to the most pressing problem the university faced, that which related to their investment in Hannam the Hill. They pointed out the problem on Facebook and through their web-site. As a result, DKU will terminate their investment in Hannam the Hill and the funds will be returned to help decrease tuition fees.
 

On the other hand, the Cheonan campus student council has not been as effective in communicating with students properly. However, they have made an effort to communicate with them though Facebook. Also, we learned from now on, they are going to try to communicate with them actively though their application ‘Touch School’.
 

College campus festivals and sports festivals were all canceled last semester in a
show of respect for the ferry disaster victims. Communication problem with Dankookians on the festival process have not been encountered. They remain to be seen in the second semester. We hope the problems do not come up. The student councils must take a profound interest in the needs of students and hope that their concerns are settled as soon as possible.