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The HUFS General Student Council (GSC) is facing an unprecedented state of emergency this year. It is the first time in HUFS history that both the Seoul and Global Campuses’ GSCs have formed Emergency Planning Committees (EPC) for one year as the elections for both foundered. The Seoul Campus has formed the EPC five years in a row since 2012, and the Global Campus formed the EPC for the first time in 2014 and organized its second EPC this year. However, in the past, the term of both EPCs was three months. One year term of EPC means that students will not be able to enjoy many privileges. As students attend university under the EPC system for the first time, The Argus looked into the problems related to EPCs, what causes an EPC to be formed, as well as, what solutions exist.

The Emergency Planning Committee (EPC) is an organization that works for the General Student Council (GSC) when the GSC experiences a period of vacancy. When the election for GSC fails, the EPC is formed by an establishment committee for the EPC. It performs the same tasks as the GSC. The term of the EPC lasts until the last day of the next GSC election.

The presidents of the EPC must be elected within seven days via an indirect vote of the establishment committee after it has been organized. The candidates for the presidents of the EPC should have more than six months of experience as college, division, or department presidents and should possess three or more recommendations from the establishment committee members. When the EPC presidents are elected, they should be approved by holding an Entire Student Representatives’ Meeting within 20 days. Each student representatives should send a member for EPC from their college or division.

Problems related to the Emergency Planning Committee

Difficulty in handling the current problems within the university
Currently, there are many big and small problems that students have to discuss with the university authorities such as the grading system, building a smart library, and reforming school facilities. To manage these kinds of school problems, there should be an opportunity for student representatives and university authorities to have a meeting to discuss things with each other. However, it is hard for this kind of thing to happen since there are no student representatives like the GSC presidents.

In January of last year, the EPC worked hard to stop the university’s grading system reformation. However, it could not effectively deal with the situation because it was not an official GSC. Students are still in conflict with the university regarding the grading system. HUFSans have little power in terms of expressing students’ thoughts to the president under the EPC because it is not an official GSC.

Hwang Young-jae, the head executive of the EPC, asserted that there is a high possibility that the EPC may not be able to discuss the problem easily with the university. He said, “Even though we gather students’ opinions and submit to the university, they might reject us since we are not an official GSC.”
Moreover, in 2013, the president of the Seoul Campus EPC could not attend the Tuition Deliberative Committee, which was an important gathering to discuss the tuition price, because the HUFS president prevented EPC from attending. Accordingly, the EPC arranged the “Student Authority Funeral” with students, claiming that the basic rights of students had been lost. The problem was solved after the funeral through a meeting between the school authorities and the president of the EPC, and he was allowed to attend the committee’s meeting.

This upcoming summer vacation, a Tuition Deliberative Committee will be held again regarding the second semester’s tuition price. However, if the same situation repeats, the students will have a hard time again, not being able to exert their authority.

Cho Bong-hyun, the president of the EPC then, said, “Since the EPC is weak, there is always a possibility that such an incident will occur. This kind of problem depends on the university’s attitude.”

In addition, the EPC does not have voting rights at the Central Steering Committee or the Entire Student Representative’s Meeting, which is a meeting where student representatives gather and discuss the school’s problems. The EPC presidents who are the core of the meeting do not have authority, so they cannot be admitted by other members in the meeting, which is a contradiction. The GSC not only hears the students’ opinions but also speaks for the university. The chairmen act as a pivot, gathering the members’ opinions into a singular one when they are divided. However, the EPC has a hard time setting the direction of the meeting.

Hwang Young-jae, the head executive of the EPC, said, “The EPC takes the most neutral attitude in those meetings. They should persuade the members of the university’s position and also give their own thoughts, but there is a problem. They have to follow the other members’ opinions since they do not have any voting rights.”

Absence of pledges
The GSC not only takes charge of annual student events such as the “daedongjae,” or college festival, volunteer activities for rural communities, and the Guam language study board; it also makes their own pledges regarding students’ rights and welfare. The candidates of GSC presidents understand the problems that students have at the university for a long time before running for election. Then they establish solutions for those problems as pledges and get support from students. When elected, they try their best to fulfill those during their term. Last year, the GSC established specific pledges related to student inconveniences like freezing the summer and winter session tuition fee, clearly stating the price of sports classes, and supporting students moving to another home.

However, unlike the GSC, the EPC does not make any pledges. Since the EPC this year makes no pledges, it cannot apprehend the problems that students have in terms of school life, policy, and tuition. Thus, the possibility that students’ inconveniences can be alleviated is unlikely during the EPC’s one year term.

Causes of the problems

Lack of representability
The GSC presidents are people elected with students’ votes while the EPC presidents are not, so it cannot be said to be the “student representative organization.” Unlike the official GSC, the university and students do not often accept the authority of the EPC, so it is hard to reflect opinions of students.
In 2013, the university disqualified the EPC from the university senate and did not let them attend the Tuition Deliberative Committee since they do not have the same representability as the GSC. The university asked the EPC for the signatures of student representatives to show that they represent the students. The EPC got signatures of representability from 700 students, but the university rejected it because it was not even 10 percent of the 8,000 HUFSans that attend our school.

The title of the EPC and the GSC is also different. A statement with the GSC’s name can be seen as having the whole of HUFSans’ voice behind it. However, when the EPC writes a statement, it is doubtful as to whether or not it actually expresses student sentiments.

Lee Seul, the EPC president of the Seoul Campus, said, “Although we have the same rights as the GSC, we have a lot of pressure to proceed in events since we are not officially elected student representatives.”

Elected without their intention
The GSC presidents are the people who are elected by their desire to be candidates, but the EPC presidents are not. Under the fifth clause of Article 99 of GSC’s rule, the EPC presidents must be elected by indirect votes of the EPC establishment committee in seven days, regardless of their intention. They are elected through a long meeting of seven days, not wanting to be elected.
The definition of “a pledge” is “the thing which a candidate promises the citizens he will do for them.” Accordingly, the GSC candidates establish pledges and a campaign to get votes from students. However, the EPC presidents are not people who run as candidates and are elected by their own intention, so they do not have to establish commitments.

Therefore, the EPC presidents do not need to tell or ask university what students want. When the GSC does not do their job well, students have the right to criticize them because they elected the GSC as their student representatives. However, the EPC are people who are elected unofficially without their own will, so no one can criticize the EPC.

A past member of GSC who requested anonymity, said, “The EPC are people who are elected without their intention, so they may have little interest in school events. They also do not have any motivation to improve themselves.”

Solutions to the problems

Students’ big interest in the EPC
In the case of the Seoul Campus, there were no candidates for the GSC. In the Global Campus’ case, the election foundered due to the low voter participation even though there was a candidate for the GSC. The elections being foundered is the result of HUFSans’ low interest in the GSC. Today, student interest in the student council is very low. They do not know what the problems are or how low interest could hurt them. Although the student council has meetings and discusses pending issues, many students do not know what is going on. Even if they do know, they do not care unless there is some direct damage affecting them. The absence of the GSC hurts students a lot, but they do not think it is directly connected to them.

Lee Sang-woo, Department of Arabic ’15, said, “Students are busy with their work, so they do not have any interest in what is going on at the university. I think students lack a sense of control regarding the university.”

The EPC needs a lot of students’ interest more than when the GSC existed. On the first week of April, the presidents of each college and division came up and gave a speech about how much attention in the EPC is necessary in the Seoul Campus. Students should know the dangers associated with the EPC system. Not only should every college and division’s student councils voice their opinions but also various students must gather their thoughts and let them be known to the university.

Hwang Young-jae, the head executive of EPC, said, “The university is afraid of students strongly protesting against policies. Although the EPC is a weak organization that cannot represent students, the university will accept the EPC and solve conflicts if the students voice out their concerns.”
If the students participate in the General Student Assembly and achieve the number of voters needed, then problems would become public faster. Therefore, students’ thoughts would be known to the university more easily, and the atmosphere of the university could change a lot.

Will of the EPC presidents
Although the EPC has a lot of problems, the most important thing might be the will of the EPC presidents. Since they are not elected of their own volition, they might lack motivation. However, if the EPC has motivation like the GSC, although their term is an entire year, they could solve problems such as the grading system reformation or hold events successfully without any inconvenience felt by the students.

The EPC presidents of both the Seoul and the Global Campus showed their ambition. Lee Seul, the EPC president of the Seoul Campus, said, “If the situations that happened in the past occur again, then we would protest and fight with the university. We would do our best to solve the problems by doing whatever we can do.”

Kim Dae-heung, the EPC president of the Global Campus, said, “We are working hard to submit the students’ thoughts gathered in the General Student Assembly to the university. The EPC will keep trying to solve conflicts through continuous conversations with the school.”
Yu Sa-rang, School of English for Interpretation and Translation ’15, gave a word supporting the EPC of both campuses. She said, “I am worried that the EPC may lack diligence unlike the GSC. However, students believe in the EPC enough and are thankful for their hard work. I hope that they do their best for HUFSans.”


The students should not think that the emergency of the GSC as a simple thing happening in a different world. As student council is connected to the students themselves, they should voice their thoughts out loud with awareness. Moreover, considering the situation of the GSC, the university should also have an attitude of cooperation to communicate with students.

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