56th General Student Council election takes place in person for the first time in three years

From Nov. 21 to 22, the 56th General Student Council election took place in person for the first time in three years, garnering great attention from students. The election began with candidate registration on Nov. 6 followed by a campaign period from Nov. 8 to 20, during which a public policy hearing session and two public campaigns were held.

A total of three candidates, namely Start, Green Wind, and One Page, registered for the election. However, with One Page’s resignation on Nov. 14, only two candidates, Start and Green Wind, were left to compete in the remaining period.

Start campaign headquarters promised to oppose tuition increases, respond appropriately to malicious online posts and rumors regarding Ewha to protect the school image, reopen ECC Sleeping Rooms, and implement the participatory budget system. On the other hand, Green Wind campaign headquarters proposed adjusting the upper limit of re-enrollment credits, expanding full- time professors, extending withdrawal periods, and lengthening the grade review period.

Ewha students expressed various expectations and interests in this year’s election, which was the first contested election in five years that had more than two candidates.

A junior from the Department of Public Administration who wished to be referred to as SH highlighted the advantages of the in-person voting method, emphasizing its accessibility. According to SH, voting booths located in buildings made it easier for students passing by to participate compared to the previous online methods, where frequent reminders to voters were necessary.

Woo Jiyun, a sophomore from the Department of Chinese Language & Literature, appreciated the meticulous election process involving student ID verification and signatures. However, she noted a flaw in the voting booth set up during the election in Hak-gwan. Despite being located in an area where numerous students pass by, the cover of the booth seemed insufficient for privacy.

International students also expressed their opinions about the current election. They were aware of the fact that there was an election held on campus but were concerned about the lack of information.

In fact, international students nominally have full access to school announcements as they receive emails, but the emails are mostly in Korean, requiring them to translate every message. As a result, most foreign students unfairly lacked information about the General Student Council election and were uncertain about its purpose.

An international student who wished to remain anonymous, therefore, was unable to properly participate in voting for the right candidate during the election, feeling less included in the school community.

Accordingly, Odongerel Batkhishig, a freshman from the Department of English Language & Literature, mentioned her concerns about the lack of access to school announcements.

“Ewha’s homepage is designed for both Korean and non-Korean students to have easy access to school announcements by providing English services,” Batkhishig said. “But such English services do not apply to most announcements as they are only provided in Korean.”

A student from the Department of English Language & Literature who wished to remain anonymous also shared her expectations about the General Student Council. She shared her expectations towards a positive change on campus such as easier access to information for foreign students and assistance in understanding Korean culture and additional language exchange programs when the General Student Council is elected.

Regarding the possibility of voting for the student council president in this election, Oh Seohyun, a sophomore majoring in life sciences, expected a president to be successfully elected since students have felt the need for a general leader after several previous student council elections were annulled.

“Whenever there were big and small issues at school, I saw students actively setting up task force (TF) teams to solve problems, and I believe we need a leader to oversee them,” Oh said.

Various issues, such as the lack of professors and mandatory courses, shuttle bus services that do not cover the whole campus, and mandatory chapel, highlighted the pressing need for a student council president to be elected. Among these concerns, the Daedong festival, a major annual event, stood out as an area where students consistently called for improvements.

Choi Jihyo, a sophomore majoring in Korean Language & Literature, participated in the Daedong festival TF team as an office team member. According to Choi, the office team’s responsibility was to engage and discuss matters with promotional companies. However, as team members were not members of the Ewha student council emergency committee, they were not able to access crucial information. Consequently, the team leader, who was also a member of the emergency committee, had to shoulder the burden of meeting these responsibilities alone. Choi believes that if the General Student Council had been in place, the workload could have been shared more efficiently, enabling better preparation for the event.

“Although there were many good ideas for the Daedong festival this year, I heard that a majority of them were canceled due to various circumstances within the school,” Choi said. “If there is a president of the student council, it will be possible to efficiently aggregate students’ opinions and create the festival that students want.”

Voting took place in different voting booths at 16 buildings for a total of 15 colleges from Nov. 21 to 22. Following two days of voting, the Election Commission promptly initiated the counting process after the conclusion of the voting period. Out of the 13,888 eligible voters, 7,946 cast their votes, constituting a 57.21 percent voter turnout. A total of 3,857 votes were cast for Start campaign headquarters, making Start the 56th General Student Council with a solid 47.54 percent. Green Wind campaign headquarters garnered 2,600 votes, achieving a 32.72 percent share of the vote. The remaining 1,451 votes were deemed invalid during the counting process.

Start campaign headquarters, including Park Seo Lim and Bahn Ji Min, shared their thoughts on being newly elected as the General Student Council presidents.

“The first thing that comes to mind is the Ewha community who believed and supported us,” Park said. “Efforts will be made to revive the student body’s expectations in terms of problems regarding campus facilities and tuition fees, which remained unresolved without the General Student Council for the past three years.”

Accordingly, Bahn also expressed her gratitude towards the students who participated in the election. She wishes the General Student Council and the student community to form a harmony and create a satisfactory academic year in 2024.

Start is aiming to fulfill three main pledges next year, including problems of a rise in tuition fees, guaranteeing students’ right to study, and operating a transparent General Student Council.

“Seven out of 10 students have concerns regarding high tuition fees and there are also chronic problems with the lack of major classes, meaning that Ewha students’ rights to study are not properly ensured,” Bahn said. “Nearly 60 percent of the voters have supported us, and we want to try our best to return their expectations and help.”

Park mentioned how she is aware of the fact that the majority of the students are worried about the newly elected General Student Council because they are more used to Ewha being run by the emergency committee. She assured to put extensive effort into minimizing the questions and concerns among the student community.

Regarding the newly elected General Student Council, Ewha students shared their anticipation and hope for the elected presidents’ promises andfurther efforts.

SH highlighted instances where individual students who are interested in specific issues had to independently contact the school for improvements. She emphasized the challenges faced by students juggling their own jobs while addressing certain concerns. SH expressed hope that the elected student council president could effectively gather and represent these individual voices.

Similarly, Oh showed her desire for the elected president to communicate seamlessly with the students and actively strive for their welfare.

Woo, in particular, conveyed her expectations for the fulfillment of promises made by campaignheadquarters. These commitments include the replacement of Wi-Fi routers, the implementation of tourist control regulations, and the addition of Ewha Stores.

“I especially hope that the support for the national examination preparation class, outlined as policies by both candidates, will come to fruition,” Woo said. “I anticipate that the elected candidates will actively represent the interests of Ewha students and work diligently on their behalf.”

In addition to the General Student Council, elections were held in each college and department to choose their representatives. Candidates were registered on Nov. 7, and students were able to officially vote for their representatives from Nov. 20 to 21.

As a result of the election, representatives were elected for the College of Social Sciences, College of Art & Design, College of Natural Sciences, College of Medicine, College of Nursing, College of Pharmacy, and College of Education.

On the other hand, ELTEC College of Engineering, College of Science & Industry Convergence, College of Artificial Intelligence, College of Liberal Arts, and Scranton College will operate as emergency committees due to the lack of candidates for the election.

Votes were counted only when more than half of the students in each major and college participated in voting. As such, there were some concerns among students regarding the lack of interest in selecting representatives as this would lead to the emergency committee managing the college of the department they belong to, instead of an officially selected representative.

Other than concerns about voter turnout, Kim Minji and Noh Seojeong, members of the Election Commission of the Division of Business Administration “BE;cause,” shared several difficulties they experienced in managing the election.

“As it was the first face-to-face election since the COVID-19 outbreak, it was challenging due to insufficient experience and previous data to rely on,” Kim said. “We paid extensive attention to make sure not to miss out on any important procedures.”

In addition to such difficulties, Kim and Noh talked about how the face-to-face election was initially aimed at increasing voter turnout by raising interest from the students, but the turnout decreased compared to previous years.

Nevertheless, the process felt rewarding as they were grateful to the students in their division who made time to come to the polling station to exercise their voting rights and build the student council, resulting in a 51.92 percent voter turnout and no abstention.

The Ewha community now expects a better operation of the school, including student well- being and insurance of their basic students’ rights that were unable to be fully achieved until the current academic year, with the help of both newly elected General Student Council members and representatives of each college and department.