As a new semester started in March, there must be plenty of Kingos who are curious about Sparkle, the 51st student council. Sparkle has earned wide support from the students for their suitable election pledges. Many of their pledges are indeed being followed through. For the student council to serve the given term successfully, however, mutual communication between the students and the student council is vital. Smooth communication is possible only when the students have a clear understanding of Sparkle itself. Therefore, the Sungkyun Times (SKT) interviewed the student presidents of the Humanities and Social Sciences Campus and Natural Sciences Campus to listen to their goals and promises.
1. Please introduce yourself and Sparkle.
Humanities and Social Sciences Campus
Hello, I am Kim YeJi (Customer and Family Sciences, 15). With Sparkle, I want to create a “shiny Sungkyunkwan.” We will always do our best to listen to the voices of the students. During our term, students will always be the center of the change in the school.
Natural Sciences Campus
Hello. My name is Lee Dong-hee (Bio-Mechatronic Engineering, 14). Sparkle’s motto is “to shine Sungkyunkwan”. We are aiming to create a “Sungkyun Community” where everyone who is related to the school can shine together.
2. What is the specific reason you decided to run for student council?
Humanities and Social Sciences Campus
Many problems such as battered shuttle buses and playing fields without artificial turf are not solved yet despite years of indication that there would be change. I thought it was the student council’s job to solve them. Those troublesome problems which have been bothering students for a long time will be solved by Sparkle with the new school President, Shin Dong-ryeol.
Natural Sciences Campus
When I came back after serving in the army, I realized that students’ voices and needs are not sufficiently represented enough to be able to make changes to the school. For example, though many of the buildings’ outward appearances have changed, some of the essential systems and tools that students frequently use have not changed yet.
3. There would have been many things to do. What have you done during the vacation?
Humanities and Social Sciences Campus
We have been establishing a student organization contacts network to help them to communicate with the student council at any time. It will help students’ organizations to maintain their groups. We are also constantly discussing efficient ways to reflect the demands from student groups to the tuition deliberation committees. Recently, we have been striving to develop a computer program that specifies the accurate competition rates and prevents trading courses through black market.
Natural Sciences Campus
We are now establishing an affiliation with neighboring shops, replacing cell phone chargers in the library, and measuring the budgets for mound replacements for the school baseball team. The S-Park project is also being carried out. We are in talks with the school with that regard. Most of the space on campus is usually occupied. Lack of vacant spaces should not hinder students from working on a group project or taking a break. We will create a space in the Student Center so that students can freely use it with reservations. Regarding the integrated festival, we are still looking for a place to hold the festival and trying to find an appropriate agency.
4. What are the projects that you want to focus on the most during the term?
Humanities and Social Sciences Campus
One of the projects we would like to focus on is SKUUrity. SKKUrity consists of the inspection for hidden cameras in the bathrooms near the school area, additional installation of emergency bells and also an expansion of the night patrol area. Also, there is a need for professional vermin-control services with a low cost but high accessibility. Many students who live near the campus say the places they live in are full of bugs. Lastly, many of the i-Campus courses are too old. We would like to try to replace them with newly filmed lectures.
Natural Sciences Campus
At the Natural Sciences Campus, students use various computer tools due to the characteristics of academia. To satisfy the students’ needs for these, Sparkle is going to establish a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). A VDI is a computer technology that hosts a desktop operating system on a centralized server. In other words, it is a type of technology that virtualizes an imaginary computer in another computer system. It is difficult for students to buy all of the expensive computer programs they need. With the VDI system, all students can use programs regardless of time, place and computer specifications.
5. Sparkle seems to emphasize an “approach and ask” strategy to communicate with students. Why do you think it is necessary to do so?
Humanities and Social Sciences Campus
The reason why we want to approach the students is that we want to expand the scope of communication. By approaching students and asking them some questions directly, we can easily get rid of the barriers of communication. Sparkle is willing to go anywhere on the campus to talk to Kingos. We will also use Facebook and Instagram live video where we can introduce our new policies and their progress immediately.
Natural Sciences Campus
Together with the Humanities and Social Sciences Campus, we would like to revitalize SKKU:ter, the online school community that was created last year. On the bulletin board of SKKU:ter students will be able to get the information that they require. For those who do not use online platforms, we will also make an offline bulletin board so that students can get the information there. Kingopedia, an application that Sparkle is still developing, can also contribute to students’ information gathering.
6. Do you have any pledges for international students?
Humanities and Social Sciences Campus
We care about international students’ human rights. Creating a human rights manual for international students could help eliminate discrimination against them. Once our manual creation is done, we will distribute it to professors and staff members. We will mark the seats for the disabled in English and Chinese for international students. Also, as far as I know, KingoM notification is translated in English most of the time except for some special occasions. Therefore, Sparkle is now under discussion with the related department to ensure that KingoM notification is sent in various languages and increase the support staff for foreigners in the One-Stop Academic Service center.
Natural Sciences Campus
Through the offline bulletin board, we will translate Korean into Chinese and English to announce the events and businesses. The QR code on the offline bulletin boards will connect foreign students to an online site where they can view the English and Chinese versions. In addition, we aim to reflect the eating culture of foreign students through international student surveys. We will try to serve halal, vegetarian, and vegan foods in the cafeteria. In addition, if international students give us their general inquiries in their own languages, we will try to translate by collaborating with the International Students’ Association.
7. What are the pledges that will directly ease the discomforts felt by students?
Humanities and Social Sciences Campus
Many male students have been asking for breakfast before participating in army reserve training. After the previous graduation preparation committee ended its term, no other groups were willing to serve breakfast. So, Sparkle decided to serve breakfast to them. Moreover, there are not enough places for students to take a break. We will remodel an infrequently used computer room in the Dasan Hall of Economics into a student lounge. Last but not least, we still have not gotten any meaningful replies regarding the shuttle bus change. So, Sparkle is now looking into the estimated costs by ourselves.
Natural Sciences Campus
To ensure that students are satisfied with their dormitory life, we will continue to communicate with all students living at the dormitories, people who work there and the director of the dormitories. After figuring out the needs of the students, we will send the data to the dormitory administration office. Pledges for dormitory residents include changing the dormitory gate system. We are trying to change the dormitory lounge room furniture, install additional microwave ovens, and so on. Lastly, to solve the discomfort of the students, the Gold Lawn Square (GLS) system that exists only on the computer will be reorganized so that it can be used through a mobile app.
8. What is the image of SKKU that you dream of?
Humanities and Social Sciences Campus
We are dreaming of a school where students’ voices change the school’s persisting problems. To do so, we are asking students to actively get involved by coming and talking to us when they are free.
Natural Sciences Campus
I do not want anyone in the school to be excluded. We should work hard to create a nice community dedicated to all of us.
9. Any last words to Kingos?
Humanities and Social Sciences Campus
We will try to implement the right policy at the right time. We promise you that we will try our best to listen to even small voices of Kingos.
Natural Sciences Campus
A new semester has finally started. As we have said before, students’ voices are what we need. No matter where your idea came from, please come and give us any ideas you have.