Originally, May 31 is the date of Ewha’s 129th anniversary. But since May 31 is on Sunday, the school has chosen May 29 as its official holiday and plans to hold a commemoration ceremony on that date. However, the school has announced that any class cancelled on the anniversary day has to be separately made up in the future or simply hold class on that date itself. This is because for every semester, the school has to fulfill its 15-week academic calendar. For this semester, if no classes take place on May 29, the school cannot meet the required length of academic semester. The strict policy for make-up class is a relatively unfamiliar concept to students and faculty members, which causes confusion and complaint for all.
In the case of large classes where there are up to around 100 students, it is impossible to find a date that fits every student’s schedule. Thus, these classes will take place on May 29, making students and faculty work on an official holiday. Even many of the smaller classes, where adjusting everyone’s schedules seem easier, decided to have class on the holiday.
“I have all my classes on May 29, just like a normal day,” said Shin Hi-eun, a freshman majoring in international studies. “I know this is not only my situation, but also an issue for many other students. It confuses me why the day is called an official holiday if most students have to attend classes anyway.”
However, choosing to follow the normal class schedule on the official holiday is not the end of the inconvenience. Since the classes are officially marked down as not to be held on May 29, the professors will automatically lose their right to use the room they usually lecture in on that day. Professors will therefore need to individually reserve the rooms they wish to teach in.
While the process for booking classrooms can normally be done through EUREKA portal, Ewha's comprehensive e-portal system, such a system does not work for booking classrooms on holidays. Thus in order to reserve classrooms to hold class on May 29, professors have to visit administrative offices in person to submit application forms. As a result, document processing becomes slower, leading to situations where professors cannot definitely inform students in advance about where the class is going to take place. Also, having classes in different rooms or buildings may cause confusion among students.
The school acknowledges student complaints and is trying to prevent it from happening again. “We are trying our best to plan our future lecture schedules so that students will be able to take 15 hours of class time without having to have make-up classes,” a member of Office of Faculty and Academic Affairs said.
Lim Ye-ju
yejulim@ewhain.net