Support Without Competition Demanded By The Club Association

The member clubs of the Club Association decided not to participate in the ?ice to meet you, Ewha welcoming festival sponsored by the Office of Student Affairs on their second general meeting on June 14. The action is part of an ongoing debate about which clubs should be supported by the school. The Festival started last year to celebrate the beginning of the semester by concerts, exhibitions and other performances by groups of students during the first week. The Office of Student Affairs provides awards (1st place 1,000,000 won, 2nd place 500,000 won, 3rd place 300,000 won) to the best performing teams.
However, the festival arose complaints from the Club Association that it is unfair to only allow performing clubs to have a chance to receive the awards, when other clubs are supported with only 30,000 won per semester. Jung Sun-hwa (Special Education, 4) the president of the Club Association says, ?f the office does want to provide monetary aid to clubs, it should look for other ways to benefit all clubs.
Last semester, the Office added academic and exhibition sections to broaden students participation, but it made no difference to the non-performing clubs since there still were no ways for those clubs to participate in the competition.
This issue was discussed at the meeting on June 14 and all performing clubs agreed not to participate in the festival this time and requested equal support to all clubs.
In addition, the Club Association complained that the festival caused many clubs to stop participating in the ?lub week event to attract freshmen to their clubs, which also takes place at the beginning of the semester. ?ecause of the festival, we have low participation in our club week. The club week has no meaning but repetition of the festival. Also it is a violation of our autonomy, says Jung.
However, the Office of Student Affairs is firm about supporting the festival. Kim Young-shim, manager of the Office of Student Affairs says, ?e hold this festival to welcome the start of a new semester of campus life by giving students the chance to observe the performances of their fellow students­and awarding the best performing and hard working teams.
Kim added, ? think the Club Association is asking for financial aid also to the clubs which do not have any particular activities. The office should benefit the clubs, which work hard and actively participate in school events. Tthe clubs with no activities should be eliminated and let new clubs have the chance to get support. In an effort to support, we decided to provide 100,000 won for any club, which asks for help.
In spite of the situation where two sides have not reached a conclusion, the welcoming festival will take place even with the low participation. Currently, Hansori is the only official club, which has applied to participate in the festival. The festival will be held for three days from Sept. 1 to 3.
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