Ewha students’ perspective on the protest
It has been a month and a half since Ewha’s 44th Student Government Association (SGA), Acting Ewha, set up a tent in front of the Ewha Campus Complex (ECC) on April 4 for a sit-in protest. The SGA started the protest to compel the school to react to Ewha students’ demands. As the tent can be spotted the moment students enter the Main Gate, most students are aware of its existence.
To get a grasp of Ewha students’ understanding of the protest, the Ewha Voice conducted a survey over a week from May 1 to 8. The questionnaires were: “Do you know about the sit-in protest inside the Ewha campus”, “Do you think Acting Ewha has provided sufficient information about the sit-in protest”, and “Do you think the sit-in protest is effective?” Students answered by placing stickers on boards posted around the campus such as at the ECC, the Ewha-POSCO building and Hak-gwan.
The result showed that while approximately 697 out of 714 (97.6 percent) students knew about the sit-in protest, only 60 students out of 773 (7.76 percent) thought the SGA provided enough information about what it was doing. And 735 students out of 840 (87.5 percent) saw the sit-in protest as an ineffective method of delivering students’ voice.
“The SGA apparently is on a sit-in protest to speak out for us, the students. But, in fact, we don’t know much about the protest,” Yoo Jung-in (International Studies, 2) said.
According to the survey, many students had negative views on the SGA’s protest due to the absence of information and the lack of communication with Ewha students.
“The posts around the tent are the only information I can get about the protest. I wish the SGA would make enough communication with Ewha students during their actions,” Yang Ji-young (Social Science Education, 2) said. Moreover, a number of students doubted whether the protest would make a significant change.
“At first, I was quite interested in the protest since it looked somewhat different from other protests. But now, I am a bit disappointed because I don’t see any change taking place yet,” Chae Hyun-jung (Human Movement Studies, 3) said. Some students expressed their worries about the tent degrading the campus’s appearance.
“I don’t see the purpose of the sit-in protest. Sleeping, eating, and chatting seem to be all they do, which embarrasses me as a student,” said a student who wishes to remain anonymous.
On the other hand, some students find the SGA’s protest a valid effort to voice Ewha students’ concerns.
“It may be in an unproductive way, but I think the SGA’s efforts to convey students’ voice and make demanding agendas be met are quite meaningful,” Kim Min-ji (International Studies, 1) said.
* Reporter: Jang Youn-hee & Moon Bo-ra & Chung Che-yoon & Oh Seo-jin
* E-mail: janet9106@ewhain.net & boramoon@ewhain.net & thfl353@ewhain.net & seojinoh@ewhain.net