The Pusan National University (PNU) General Students’ Association (GSA) established a new regulation in October, allowing the delegation of its fundamental voting rights to the GSA President. Experts say that the regulation is far from democracy, which is the basis of student autonomy. There are also internal criticisms that the regulation change, which took only two days, is a “Hasty Revision.”

To sum up the coverage of "Channel PNU" on the 8th, an extraordinary general meeting of the House of Representatives was held in writing from 12 pm on October 26th to 11:59 pm on October 27th. The amendment was proposed by 10 Central Operations Committee (COC) members, including Lee Chang-Joon (Dept. of Geological Science, 22), former president of the PNU’s 56th GSA P:New, and passed in writing with 79 of the 90 delegates who participated in the assembly. 67 delegates did not participate.

The amendment included a provision that delegates and COC members could delegate voting rights to the president of GSA if they were unable to attend the meeting for unavoidable reasons (Article 16 Paragraph 3, Article 27 Paragraph 1) and that a power of attorney must be submitted to the president GSA before the opening of the meeting.

■“Possibility of Damaging Student Autonomy”

Regarding the newly established “voting right delegation article,” experts pointed out that it may hinder the democratic operation of the independent student organization. Park Sang-Joon (council member, Gangseo-gu Council in Busan) said, “In the concept of representative democracy, delegates take the place of ordinary students’ decision-making. So, delegating that authority again does not align with the principles of representative democracy.”

The amendment may give the GSA president excessive decision-making power. Seo Jae-Kwon (Prof. of Political Science and Diplomacy, PNU) said, “The amendment does not set a specific delegation issue. This can give excessive authority to the president of GSA. Measures ensuring transparency and accountability, which are democratic values, should be supplemented.”

There is a possibility that interest in the student community, which was originally decreasing, may fall further due to this revision of the rules. Council member Park said, “There is a concern that the delegation of voting rights will reduce the attendance rate of delegates. If the attendance of delegates decreases, the information power that students can gain and the influence of decision-making within the school will be lost, eventually leading to indifference in the student community. A policy that can shake the attendance rate of delegates needs to be decided carefully.”

The problem is that there is no clear explanation available for the revision of the bylaws. There is no explanation in the announcement of the amendment proposal and the convocation of the general meeting of delegates posted by the GSA on SNS. “Channel PNU” contacted the GSA, which pushed for the revision, several times - from immediately after the revision was passed ntil recently -, but did not hear an answer.

■A Constitutional Amendment That No One Knows Well About

It is not possible to know 'who proposed' and 'who approved' the revision of the general student council rules, which can tarnish university democracy. After the amendment was passed, 4 out of 10 advocates responded to the amendment, saying, “It seems to have been discussed at the Expanded Central Operations Committee (ECOC), which I did not go to. I do not know the details because I am not in charge of revising the amendment.” When asked about the opinion, PNU Student A, the president of the student council of the department who voted at the general meeting of representatives in writing, replied, “Was there such a provision?”

Another problem is that the extraordinary general meeting of representatives, which was held on September 19th, was held in writing again following the regular general meeting of representatives and did not go through a sufficient period of public debate. The extraordinary general meeting of representatives was decided immediately on the day when the revision to the rules of GSA was proposed, and there was no related explanation or discussion procedure in advance. Jang Seo-Yoon (Dept. of Business Administration, 22), vice president of the College of Business, said, “There has never been much discussion about the revision within the ECOC. In many cases, some delegates do not even look at the contents and roughly approve them. The lack of responsibility among representatives is also a big problem.”

According to Article 81 Paragraph 1 of the GSA, the reason for the proposal of the amendment to the bylaws must be submitted within three days of the proposal. However, the reason for the proposal has still not been disclosed. On the other hand, this amendment included the provisions for initiating and deciding a general student vote, the COC job agency regulation, and some adjustments to fiscal management regulations.

Reporter Choi Yun-Hui, Jung Yoon Seo

Translated by Seo Ye-Jin