The recent purchase of Calvin Klein merchandise on the stolen credit card of a fellow Ewha student has redirected our attention to the long-standing problem of theft at Ewha. The case was seemingly closed by the perpetrator returning the cash she had spent in an envelope to the Posco building guard office. According to the Ewha Hakbo, the theft victim plans to identify and punish the anonymous culprit by due process of law. 

 

I have experienced many good aspects of Ewha during my sojourn in Korea. However, the above credit card incident sums up one of the things that I truly wish to see changed in the near future. The issue of petty theft on campus has been a constant problem over the past few years. In addition to the countless notices posted in the library by individuals on an almost daily basis, there are many similar unpublicized cases in which items accidentally left behind are no longer there when the owner comes back. Unpublicized by the victim because there is little to no hope of retrieving the lost item(s).

 

At my former institution, there is a school-wide honor code system that serves as a natural barrier against theft. I can leave my entire bag (including wallet and mp3 player) at any location on campus, knowing that nothing will be touched while I am gone. On a campus in which over 90% of students live in campus dorms, there is actually a much bigger statistical chance for theft to take place because people are on campus nearly 24 hours a day. However, I only remember isolated instances of burglary during my entire stay there. What, then, is the source of this never-ending problem at Ewha?

 

It is definitely not because of a quality difference between the two schools. Ewha always ranks near the top of all type of college rankings and for the past few years, Ewha has taken upon itself the mission of becoming a world-standard educator of female leaders. The Global Ewha 2010 Project recently begun by the school heavily emphasizes the internationalization of its curriculum as one of its main objectives. While all of this is fine and good, I believe there is a more fundamental question that needs to be asked: can we honestly recommend Ewha to our EGPP students when we can not even trust each other with our belongings? I can only hope that maybe the next time I visit the library, I do not need to carry my cell phone and mp3 player with me each time I go to the bathroom.

 

(Choe Mun-jung , Korean Language and Literature 4)

 

저작권자 © Ewha Voice 무단전재 및 재배포 금지