Tag: Ewha University

It looks like the student protesters won their argument to keep Ewha University as an elitist institution plus they will face no punishment for detaining professors for 46 hours.  Despite this they are still not happy:

Ewha Womans University President Choi Kyung-hee has filed a petition calling on authorities not to punish students who blocked four professors and a school worker from leaving a school building for 46 hours during a sit-in protest against the school’s plan to set up a night college for workers.

Choi visited Seodaemun Police Station in central Seoul Friday morning to submit the petition, which read that the professors and the worker do not want the students to face action.

Hundreds of Ewha students began the sit-in on July 28 and prevented the five people from leaving. School officials asked police to intervene and some 1,600 officers were mobilized to remove the protesters on July 30.

Police are identifying the students by reviewing video footage. A police officer said, “The petition will not affect the ongoing investigation. It may affect the level of punishment if they are indicted, but it’s up to the court.”

Following the protest, Choi said the school would scrap the night college plan. But students are still staging the sit-in, demanding Choi’s resignation. [Korea Times]

Basically these students are protesting to remain an elitist institution by not allowing in older students who could not afford to go to college after high school, but could later on in their lives:

Hundreds of students at Ewha Womans University in Seodaemun District, western Seoul, have been occupying one of the school’s halls for days in a bid to pressure the university to scrap its decision to create a college for non-traditional students.

Some 300 students have participated in the sit-in so far, which began last Thursday in a building housing the president’s office. The school’s board of trustees had officially decided that day to push the plan forward, rejecting voices from the student body that denounced the so-called Future Life College.

A group of five professors and faculty members who joined Thursday’s meeting was locked inside the building when 200 students stormed in to express their defiance, leading local police to dispatch around 1,600 officers Saturday to guide them out.

Around 10 students were physically injured during the altercation. Some were transported to a nearby hospital by ambulance.

The school’s initiative to establish the Future Life College is led by the Ministry of Education, which sought to offer high-quality education to people who started working right after graduating from high school. The plan was to offer opportunities for those who couldn’t afford a college education but felt the need to get one later in their careers.   [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.