The issue of “declining student voting rights” in the election for the 22nd president of Pusan National University (PNU) has led to a discord between the Presidential Appointment Recommendation Committee (PARC) and the General Students’ Association (GSA), with each side passing responsibility to the other. As this issue is disadvantageous to students, and with the PARC’s term ending in May, some say that the GSA should take a more proactive approach in addressing the issue.

The PARC altered the scope of student voters right before the election held on February 6th, decreasing the student voting rate from the initially anticipated 7% range to 0.64% (reported by “Channel PNU” on March 8th, 2024). In response to the criticism of the students against this, the PARC resolved in the “4th PARC conference” on February 15th as following: an apology to students and documentation of measures to prevent reoccurrence in white paper or other equivalent brochures, an official request to the Faculty Council (FC) to revise the “Regulations for the Nomination of Candidates of the PNU President,” and sincere response to the statements from the GSA and the Students Council of College of Humanities (SCCH).

According to the reports of “Channel PNU” on March 29th, the GSA hasn’t revealed its response to the decline of student vote, even two months after it happened. At that time, they said they would continue to monitor the progress and inform students of the ongoing situation after the conference (reported by “Channel PNU” on March 1st, 2024). Currently, the PARC has implemented one of the three resolutions. It uploaded a written reply on the official website and stated that they will document the measures to avoid reoccurrence, saying sorry.

Regarding the decline in student voting rights, the discussions between the PARC and the GSA have also not been disclosed. Despite the release of a statement by the GSA and the SCCH in February emphasizing the “public disclosure of the redefinition process of student voters,” the extent of the explanation remains unknown. In an interview with “Channel PNU” on March 26th, Lee Chang-Jun (Dept. of Geological Sciences, 22), the GSA President, stated “We had only received meeting minutes from the PARC in the form of screenshots from the PARC’s KakaoTalk chatroom. Based on the results of the Expanded Central Operations Committee (ECOC) meeting on February 27th, using the screenshots was deemed difficult to provide sufficient justification, so the GSA required additional inquiries to the PARC.”

However, the FC, which is responsible for overseeing the PARC, stated that they have not received such demands from the GSA, indicating a lack of effective communication between them. According to the GSA president, “I conveyed the decision of the ECOC to the FC over the phone a month ago and waited, but there has been no response yet.” A FC member stated, “I recall making a phone call, but I do not recall discussing the content of the demands.” The GSA just waited for additional inquiries to the FC, the responsible party for the PARC without any action.

The investigation revealed a discrepancy in understanding between the FC and the GSA regarding the timing for revising the selection regulations. While the GSA insisted on amending the election regulations within the term of the current PARC, whose term ends on May 11th, the FC thought to change the regulations until the next presidential election. Kim Jung-Gu, the chairman of the FC, said, “Even if we change the regulations for the candidate election immediately after the presidential election, no one will be interested. Wouldn’t it be more desirable to change the regulations based on the environment that will change in four years when the next election will be held?”

Consequently, the GSA remained unaware of the PARC’s position. When “Channel PNU” began investigating, the GSA President, realizing this situation, said, “As I clearly conveyed our opinion at the last PARC meeting, it’s unreasonable to postpone the amendment of regulations until the next election.”

As the students are disappointed by this issue, and with the PARC’s term ending in May, some criticize that the GSA should take a more proactive approach in addressing the issue. PNU student A (Dept. of Public Administration, 21) said, “Although students’ interest is low, isn’t the duty of the GSA to express opinions on matters of high importance? The GSA should also take responsibility for this with the current issue of attending to a controversial politician.”

Meanwhile, the PARC hasn’t mentioned anything regarding the issue of transferring personal information, called into question by the SCCH after the PNU presidential election. The problem arose from expanding the scope of the electorate to include those who were not registered on the voter list beforehand, resulting in their personal information being transferred to the Geumjeong-gu National Election Commission (NEC) without consent. Although the provision of personal information without students’ consent occurred, no organization has provided an investigation or explanation regarding this matter. In response, a representative from the NEC stated “We received a list of all student voters’ names, affiliations, and student IDs, but only those who consented had their email addresses and phone numbers listed. One week after the election, this information was automatically deleted.”

Reporter You Seung-Hyun

Translated by Lee Soo-Hyun