On Sept. 23, an international freshman claiming to be a former member of the official student yacht club, Ewha Yacht, anonymously wrote a statement on the online school community Everytime that the club had continuously neglected her and suddenly asked her to quit the club. Until now, it has since been revealed that Ewha Yacht has had various issues in the recruitment process, membership fees, and overall operation.
The executive members of the club have posted official statements explaining the case from their perspective three times since the accusations. Also, the 38th Emergency Committee of the Student Club Association held a meeting regarding the incident.
However, the issue has yet to be resolved. Since the first statement was uploaded on Sept. 23, the board has been bombarded with more than 100 related posts regarding the situation, demonstrating how seriously students have taken the accusations.
A previous member of Ewha Yacht who wished to remain anonymous testified about the way the club had operated. Even though she was a qualified member who went to marine training, she chose to quit shortly after the conflict had begun. According to her, the club accepted about 50 new members earlier this year and collected 60,000 won as membership fees from each student. In early May, 20 members withdrew after receiving a refund due to technical difficulties in activities.
Out of the remaining 30 members, only 10 perfectly met the qualifications of the club to take part in marine training. The rest who failed were removed from the club without receiving any refund or a clear explanation. In fact, the student testified that the members had not been clearly notified at the beginning of the recruitment process that they could be eliminated when they failed to meet certain requirements.
Ewha Yacht is not the first student club to have been confronted about operating transparency. Last July, the official student ski club, Ewha Ski Team, and the official student band, Hansori, were publicly criticized for having similar issues to Ewha Yacht in their recruitment processes.
The Ewha Ski Team collected 50,000 won from each new member last March during recruitment. However, the club did not inform the new members in advance of the exact cost of club activities and training, which would be at their own expense. It was only after the season started that the club told the members they had to purchase team uniforms, which were priced at about 600,000 won. The members who found the price unreasonable and decline the purchase were eventually removed from the club.
Being aware of such controversies, the Student Club Association posted a statement on Aug. 8. Firstly, even though the association mentioned that individual clubs are in charge of decisions related to recruitment, they will provide clear guidelines on membership fees and activity announcements. They also indicated that they would recommend not soliciting membership fees until the new members had officially joined the club. Furthermore, since financial issues are at the center of the controversies, the association stated that they would audit each club’s budget and activity plan every March.
However, it is not yet known how far the guidelines and systems suggested by the association have been implemented. The Student Club Association is currently operating under an emergency planning committee system, making it challenging to bring about active and immediate changes to club activities and operation policies.
“I hope the disclosure and apology through the anonymous community will stop,” said the former member of Ewha Yacht who wished to remain anonymous. “As the case was revealed through Everytime, people on both sides had to endure abusive comments that had nothing to do with the facts. False information was posted, and people not affiliated with the club impersonated the members of Ewha Yacht. Therefore, if a similar incident occurs, I hope the Student Club Association investigates the case immediately.”
She also emphasized that active intervention by the association or the school is necessary. Regarding the clubs that first had issues, she hopes that either the association or the school will actively take measures such as improvement of the operation method or the abolition of the club and maintain active communication with the members throughout the process.