Shouting Ewha was elected as the 48th Student Government Association (SGA) on Nov. 26. The party had received an approval rating of 91.15 percent (6,847 votes) during the student government election held from Nov. 24 to 25. Under the school’s electoral regulation, the sole registered party was elected after winning the approval of more than 50 percent of the voters. President-elect Choi Eun-hye, a senior majoring in Nutritional Science & Food Management, and vice-president-elect Lee Hae-ji, a junior majoring in History, will run the SGA in 2016.
“Over the past year, the school has made unilateral changes on campus without prior notification to students,” said the president-elect Choi. “As the name ‘Shouting Ewha’ implies, the SGA will create a school where the shouting of 16,000 Ewha students will bring changes desired by students.”
The elected party pledges to demand that the school initiate a policy notification system, increase scholarships, lower tuition fees and secure space for students.
One of Shouting Ewha’s four pledges is to request a policy notification system, which will demand the school to notify policy changes to the students at least three months in advance. The system aims to allow students to express their views on policy changes before they are implemented. The newly elected SGA will survey students’ opinions regarding the policy notification system from February to March and determine the process to adopt the system. Then, the student association will deliver students’ ideas to the school.
“This year, the school has established the College of Science & Industry Convergence and eliminated the liberal arts exam period without preliminary notice to the students,” Choi said. “The policy notification system is the key to creating a more student-friendly campus.”
In addition, Shouting Ewha promises to expand scholarship opportunities. The party plans to re-establish the Excellence 2 scholarship, which granted 500,000 won to students who received a GPA of 3.75 or higher. This semester, the Excellence 2 scholarship was abolished for students who have enrolled in 2015 or later.
Moreover, Shouting Ewha hopes to introduce a stipend scholarship using one percent of the revenue generated by privately-owned amenities.
“The stipend scholarship can cover various student expenses, such as transportation fees or living expenses,” Choi said. “We will conduct a student survey to decide on the beneficiaries and the optimal amount of funding for the stipend.”
Meanwhile, the elected party pledges to clarify the standards for scholarship opportunities. It claims that a lot of non-merit based scholarships provided by the school have vague standards. Thus, the newly elected SGA plans to hold briefing sessions on scholarships next year and request that the school release information on its use of funds.
Shouting Ewha will also ask to reduce tuition fees, including ones for summer and winter sessions. The association’s goal is to lower tuition by 10 percent by making a more student-centered committee to discuss the issue. The new SGA plans to demand the participation of an accountant appointed by students in the committee.
“The benefits that the students receive are minute compared to the high tuition,” said vice-president-elect Lee. “Furthermore, students from the College of Music and the College of Art & Design are paying high tuition due to the research and training fees included in their tuition. However, they are not given any information on the details of the expenses. Thus, we will clarify the usage of both tuition and extra fees.”
The last initiative proposed by Shouting Ewha is the composition of the Space Adjustment Committee. Once established, it will foster communication between the students and the university regarding the use of school space, especially the construction of buildings on campus.
“We want to be an SGA that is like a friend to students,” Lee said. “We will place a bulletin board at the Student Union Building to receive students’ ideas off-line. We will also visit each college twice a month to conduct one-on-one meetings with students to hear their proposals to the SGA.”
Meanwhile, the new president-elect promised to promote discussion between the students and school authorities.
“Shouting Ewha hopes to become a center for resolving the lack of communication with the school,” Choi said.