It is not too much to say that the Student Council is the face of the student body, as it represents the students of Kyonggi University. In 2019, after a fierce election, the In:K Student Council candidates were elected as the Student Council of the year. However, before long, the vice president of the In:K Student Council became controversial because of an issue with his ex-girlfriend. Students who circulated a petition objecting to the vice president’s inclusion on the council received over 1,200 signatures and held an extraordinary assembly of students. After that, the action of the institutes took a long time and the school was in chaos. Finally, after much controversy, the resignation letter of the vice president was posted. The Pharos looks back at the whole story and focuses on what the school should do in the future.

The controversy began with a post on the “Kyungdaejeon” Facebook on December 5, 2018. The message said that a perpetrator injured and assaulted his ex-girlfriend twice and was investigated by police. A day later, a message by the vice president of the In:K Student Council was posted on “Kyungdaejeon.” The vice president admitted that the perpetrator was himself and claimed that the current messages and testimonies were distorted. The students demanded to have the truth revealed about the vice president. The students were suspicious about the fact that the vice president was given a suspended sentence. The vice president-elect Lee Jong-hyun said, “If the report was true, I would have been sentenced to prison rather than given a suspended sentence.” The vice president tried to explain the incident, but the students’ confidence plummeted. Furthermore, according to the election rules, there is a clause that states that the student representative should be a person with upright behavior, command ability, and leadership qualities. After this matter became known by students, some students said that the vice president's conduct disqualified him from being a student representative.

Yang Min-ji, a student, posted an article saying “Let’s hold a special general meeting to discuss solutions together.” Therefore, on December 10, Yang Min-ji and Kang Soo-young circulated a petition and received signatures from 1,225 students in one day to fulfill the condition for holding a special general meeting. Subsequently, the signature list was submitted to the president of the Student Body and a special student council meeting was convened on December 14 in accordance with the election results and rules of the committee. For the special student meeting to be held, more than 1,296 students, one-tenth of all students, were required to attend on both the Suwon and Seoul campuses. However, the meeting was not held, with only 877 students from the Suwon Campus and 19 from the Seoul Campus, a total of 896 students, attending the meeting. Therefore, it became impossible to reach a resolution. Nevertheless, the Student Council introduced the prepared agenda, ended the meeting with questions and answers from students, and organized an Expanded Operation Committee in accordance with the rules of the Student Council.

What was disappointing about the special student council meeting was that the Ribbon Student Council conducted a Q&A session after many students had left the place. If they had held the Q&A session early in the council meeting when many students were present, they might have had fewer complaints from students by communicating with them immediately. Also, immediate communication might have led to a wise response regarding how to deal with the problem, but unfortunately that did not happen. Moreover, the most disappointing part was that though Lee Jong-hyun, the vice president of In:k, and the chairman of the Intermediate Election Commission had to attend the assembly, apologize for the incident, and settle the matter, only a few of the committee members attended. Therefore, for the approximately 900 students who gathered to find an ideal solution to the controversy, the people concerned seem to be dodging their responsibility. In addition, although Kim Jeong-sik, the vice president of the Ribbon Student Council, was an executive of the Student Body at the time of the election, he supported and promoted a certain candidate. Because of this inappropriate behavior, an apology was made during the extraordinary assembly. However, the fact that he apologized in the last part of the assembly after many students had left also disappointed lots of students. There were a lot of public opinions expressed suggesting that the order of agenda items was deliberately set in such a way because he was afraid of being criticized in front of many people. Finally, in the Q&A session, it is also a pity that the president’s answers were limited compared to the students’ various questions. Since his responses only focused on legal matters, they didn’t really help, and the Pharos felt the extraordinary assembly was not prepared well.

The Expanded Operation Committee is the highest voting body and has the right to vote on an issue that has not been voted on by the Student Council assembly. The committee, which met on December 18, discussed issues such as the extraordinary assembly and how to resolve them. However, during the meeting, there was a general consensus that the Student Council’s response to the incident regarding the vice president was a virtually meaningless resolution, but that it could not be judged hastily without objective data. Therefore, the meeting was closed without a vote in accordance with the majority’s opinion that accurate fact-finding was the first requirement. Later, the committee voted on a motion to resume committee work on December 28, but the committee rejected the proposal because the minimum number of people needed to have a meeting was not satisfied. It said, “We decided to discuss the issue in 2019 because it would be better to do it when the options are diverse, rather than pushing ahead with the confirmation process in 2018.” The Pharos wonders why the Expanded Operation Committee and the Central Committee did not discuss who would be held responsible for the incident.

The lack of taking responsibility was the biggest problem in this election and the controversy. If the vice president of the In:k Student Council knew that his position entailed a heavy responsibility, he should look back and consider whether he deserved to be elected. Also, the Intermediate Election Commission didn’t discharge its responsibility to have a fair vote. In particular, if the In:k Student Council pushed ahead with the election even though it was aware of the whole incident, it must reflect on it's role in causing this controversy. Futhermore, at the time of the controversy, the Intermediate Election Commission was disbanded, and then the Student Council, though acting according to the rules of the association, took no active action or responsibility. However, if there are any election-related problems before a new Student Council term begins, it is necessary for the Student Council in charge to take responsibility for them. Someone should be held accountable, and should not be excused because their time in office has passed. If this does not happen, the next time the same thing occurs, the same conclusion will be reached.

In spite of the resignation of the vice president of the In:K Student Council on January 21, 2019, students still look at the Student Council negatively. This incident should not be forgotten just because the case is finished; rather, the responsibility for the incident should be clarified with regard to who is responsible and how it should be determined. Furthermore, the Student Council, the Intermediate Election Commission, the Expanded Operation Committee, and the Central Committee need to address the roles and responsibilities of each party. Every student should keep an eye on the In:k Student Council and what steps it will take without the vice president.

Management Editor•CHOI SOYEON•clara3003@naver.com
71st Cub Reporter•KIM JIN•coo0714@naver.com