제 7 호 Communication Conflict between Sangmyung University and Students
Kicker: SM NEWS
Communication Conflict between
Sangmyung University and Students
by Sol-Hyang Park, Cub-Reporter
“Man has one mouth and two ears. This means that listening is twice as important as speaking.” It is a famous saying of the Talmud, which is a very important part of communication. In the event of a problem, both sides must listen to each other's opinions carefully rather than one-sided notification. This seems like the advice for what happened to Sangmyung University. Conflicts between Sangmyung University and students reached its peak this year. For the first time, there were many articles, Internet searches and complaints about Sangmyung University. What happened? Let’s go back to the beginning and look back step by step.
1. Online Lecture Due to Corona Virus
After the Corona-19 outbreak, all elementary, middle, high schools and universities started online classes under quarantine guidelines. Sangmyung University was no exception. The opening of the class was postponed, the entire class turned online, and face-to-face classes were limited only for small subjects with less than 10 students. As everything went online for the first time, many complaints were raised, including sever problems and tuition return.
2. Meeting of Online Lectures and Tuition Return
Unprecedented remote classes have led to new discussions. Therefore, on July 20th, a meeting with the president of the university about class operation plan of the second semester and tuition return was held. According to a report the next day, the second semester's classes would be face-to-face classes in principle, and the tuition would be returned by abolishing the grade scholarship and paying everyone a "Corona 19 Special Scholarship.” The school notified students without any prior polls or gathering of opinions, so students were very dissatisfied. In response, the Student Council said they would conduct a student survey, gather opinions and deliver them in the meeting scheduled for the 24th.
3. Delay of the Meeting & the “Chonggong” Movement
However, at 11 p.m. the day before the meeting, the school notified students that the meeting was delayed. In fact, a lawsuit was filed against Sangmyung University at a “meeting which demands a refund of tuition fees” the day before the meeting, so the school needed basic discussions on it and delayed the meeting. However, the school did not tell students about it. Therefore, to students who had class registration day just around the corner, the situation was nothing but the school tried to avoid the current situation and refused to communicate with students.
Eventually, the students agreed to do “Chonggong” of the most searched words on July 24th, which means the mass movement to make “Sangmyung University, Communicate” the trend keyword on major portal sites. Many students also wrote posts about the situation and students’ opinions on social networking sites such as blogs. The main opinions of students were as follows:
1. Stop the principle of face-to-face classes that cannot guarantee the safety of students.
2. Do not replace the return of tuition by abolishing the academic scholarship. Keep the existing grade scholarship intact, while paying the Corona scholarship separately.
3. Communicate with students and find solutions together.
The Chonggong movement was so powerful that it ranked second on real-time the most-searched keyword section on NAVER portal. Several articles about this situation were also published.
4. After the Movement
Other meetings were held on July 27th and 30th urgently. Eventually, the school paid the academic scholarship and returned about 7% of tuition separately. In terms of face-to-face classes, it was decided to give a choice to students, but corona virus has been getting worse, so all classes turned online for two weeks after the opening of the class.
We interviewed several people about the happening. The leader of the movement said, “It was possible thanks to many students who participated passionately.” and expressed his gratitude. The Student Council said, “The happening clearly shows that we did not do our role as a Student Council well. We are aware of this and will focus on gathering students' opinions and continuously communicating with them by actively utilizing Instagram, Facebook, and the Saemmul portal. We will let students know if students' opinions are well reflected in the process of discussion with the school.” Professor Kang Sang-Wook, who is a director of the Student Career Development Center said, “It made me think that we should make more efforts to connect the Administration and students. It will be important for the Ministry of Student Affairs to cooperate with the relevant ministries so that students’ opinions can be delivered promptly, and we will pay more attention to this. In addition, students may be displeased thinking that school decisions are late, but sensitive issues require careful consideration, so I would appreciate it if students widely understand that it is a process to make the best choice."
Communication is very important to correct misunderstandings and conflicts. I hope this incident makes us realize the importance of communication and always keep our ears open to form a healthy and democratic relationship. In addition, if students’ basic rights are violated by lectures that do not follow remote or convergence class guidelines, you can use the “student reporting system.” It is recently introduced to make up for the shortcomings of the first semester and to guarantee students' rights. You can report through the following link: https://forms.gle/ViTA4jJyvvLwgbZd9.
Sources:
https://blog.naver.com/uts3838/222040006034
