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SNU students protest privatization

By Sean Cowan

When placards and chants failed to impede the privatization of Seoul National University (SNU), a crowd of students invaded the administrative building, forced out the Dean and 50-some staff members, and began a sit-in on June 7, which continues as I write.

The Dean still refused to discuss the controversial decision with the student leadership, so, on June 15 the vice-president of the student council began a hunger strike with seven other students, hoping to force the Dean into a conversation, and of course ultimately to prevent the privatization.

There is no word from the Dean, yet.

Those who oppose incorporation worry tuition fees will rise and unprofitable fields of study (i.e. the humanities) will wane.

Choi Jong-won, a professor at SNU and chair of the incorporation committee, says privatization means more funding, and more funding means upgrades for all their facilities and salary bids attractive to "distinguished foreign professors."

SNU is a big deal.

In 2010, USNews reported it was the ninth best university in Asia. Times-Higher-Education ranked in 12th in Asia. By all accounts, it's number one in Korea. Koreans know it—97% of students complete secondary-education (the highest in the world, according to an OECD report) so post-secondary competition is fierce. It's the coveted dream of every student's mother and father, grandmother and grandfather. Now, only the best of the best are admitted. The fear is that only the best of the wealthiest will be admitted in the future.

The concern is that Korea's elite university might tailor itself, under the tutelage of mega-corporation like Samsung or LG, to wealthy students interested in commercial pursuits—something like an officer's school of business.

The best degrees would then be restricted to those with great wealth, and Korea would become more stratified and less mobile—not to mention the loss to "unprofitable" studies, like the humanities.

And its effects range further than that: lesser Korean universities follow the standards in tuition fees and programming set by SNU.

But, to dutifully play devil's advocate, an American degree in South Korea absolutely carries more clout than any Korean degree. Students with means study abroad. SNU may be trying to change that by becoming a world-elite in education, for which it would need more money, for which it must privatize. That, certainly, is their avowed aim. The question, if they are sincere, is what sort of influence corporations will gain through their sponsorship.

Many students feel it will be a sinister one. Packages of food, supplies and letters of solidarity are left outside the administration building where students remain temporary residents, resolutely defiant.