The ongoing debate over Ewha students being required to participate in eight consecutive semesters of chapel without earning any credits is sowing dissatisfaction within the campus.
Ewha’s daily chapel, which has been a part of university life since 1888, is a venue for fostering a sense of community that pledges harmony among students, professors, and employees. The purpose of preserving chapel is to spread the Christian spirit among the students, which is the founding ideology of Ewha. Furthermore, it helps students to grow into a mature leader and learn about ethical consciousness, providing opportunities for self-reflection.
Students are assigned to their chapel group according to their major and are required to go to the Welch-Ryang Auditorium in the morning once every week.
However, students are discontented with the obligation to participate in chapel for eight semesters. Especially during their third and fourth years of university, when students are extremely busy, sacrificing 30 minutes every week is anything but easy. Students often complain on the school online community Everytime as they are annoyed by the fact that every chapel session is held offline, and cannot graduate if they do not fulfill the chapel requirement that is much higher than other universities in Seoul.
By contrast, Yonsei University requires only four semesters of chapel and rewards 0.5 credits, reducing the burden for juniors and seniors who have to prepare for their job applications. Moreover, Sejong University rewards a certain number of credits for completing chapel requirements and allows students to participate in chapel on a voluntary basis during exam weeks.
Office of the Chaplain has opted to provide various opportunities for students other than worship, such as musical performances and lectures, which has increased students’ interest in chapel services. It has also made efforts to teach Christian spirit to the Ewha community in a friendly and easy way.
From May 15 to 19, Office of the Chaplain held sessions where students were able to listen to lectures instead of attending worship, which generated interest and anticipation. However, in the end, students were dissatisfied with the fact that they were assigned to particular lectures and could not choose to participate in lectures held on other days.
Students also expressed their discontent over the need to spend 30 minutes of their morning time in chapel.
“I am happy with the fact that chapel allows us to obtain knowledge that we are unable to learn in class,” Shin HyunA, a freshman of the College of Nursing said. “However, it is really challenging for me to wake up early in the morning just for chapel.”
“I once had to go to the hospital for an emergency treatment, but it overlapped with chapel,” said Kim MinA, a sophomore from the department of English Language and Literature. “It was cumbersome to have to register for a supplementary chapel session even though my absence was unavoidable. Also, I think Ewha should give certain credits to the students or reduce the number of hours of compulsory chapel.”
Accordingly, Ewha Voice conducted a survey among 51 students to look into this issue in more detail.
The results showed that 94.1 percent of the surveyed students were against having to participate in chapel for eight semesters, and 74.5 percent did not consider chapel useful nor helpful.
These students strongly asserted that it is difficult to wake up in the morning to listen to lectures they are not interested in and cannot sympathize with. Moreover, some students have to come to school just for chapel despite the fact that they do not have other classes on that particular day.
Non-Christian students who participated in the survey expressed their discomfort, feeling that Ewha is forcing religious beliefs on students by imposing chapel as a mandatory graduation requirement for eight semesters.
On the other hand, 25.5 percent of the students considered chapel as helpful because it only takes up 30 minutes of the day and alumni are often invited to give lectures concerning the students’ future and provide useful information.
Finally, particularly for Christian students, chapel provides hope and happiness through expressions of gratitude towards Christ.
Still, it was apparent that the majority of the Ewha community did not find chapel enjoyable. In order to discuss solutions for this issue, Ewha Voice requested an interview with the Office of the Chaplain but did not receive a reply.